Scaffolding endangers the existence of the Saarbrücken cultural café

If you stroll through the St. Johanner Markt in Saarbrücken, you might suspect that the cultural café is closed. Huge scaffolding covers the building. To the displeasure of the operator.

From reporter: Lea Kiehlneker /Online version: Raphael Klein The scaffolding at the Saarbrückener Kulturcafé stems from an urgently needed roof renovation. As a result, you can no longer see anything from the café, even though it is still open. The scaffolding is built on the ground floor like a tunnel with walls on both sides, so that there is now also a wall in front of the windows of the Kulturcafé, so that you can no longer look in from the outside and out from the inside – according to the city of Saarbrücken for safety reasons. Burim Gashi, the operator of the culture café, says that this has a dramatic effect on the business: "We have zero guests, we don't have a terrace outside anyway, but inside you can assume that sales have fallen by over 90 percent." No more terrace means: Because of the construction work, he can no longer place all 18 tables in front of the café as before.

According to the city, scaffolding, including the wall and tunnel, should remain installed during the entire construction work. It is not possible to say exactly how long these will last. The landlord Karlsberg has informed operator Gashi in a letter that it should take three months. Transitional solution banner and courtyard?

For the time being, Burim Gashi has a very clear wish, which could help him: "The solution would be simply that the walls here are perhaps transformed by a grid, that in any case this darkness, here this tunnel, comes away." But that's not going to happen: the city says that the climbing protection must essentially remain that way for safety reasons. However, banners are now to be hung that point to the Kulturcafé. In addition, the city says that part of the courtyard was provided as a replacement for the exterior seating. However, this is not a real alternative for Gashi, because there is also a construction site in the other part of the farm.

Nobody sits down here either. He doubts that the café will survive the three months of construction. He is now on the verge of insolvency. A topic in the program "Region am Afternoon" on 22.09.2026 on SR 3 Saarlandwelle.

First published: 22.09.2026 | 22:20