To be honest, the Region or Country specific sections of my Financial Times usually find their way quickly to the recycling bin.
An exception was the October 16 ‘Hungary’ section.
Its back page offers ‘Rubble bars’ find beer can be big business on how what were once makeshift, always on the move affairs becoming ‘victim’ of their success and turning respectable with set locations.
I hit a road bump when I searched for ‘rubble bars’ though.
A term more commonly used seems to be ‘ruin gardens’.
A number of them are listed on the Let’s Get Ruined page of Budapest 24/7, a great guide it seems to the Hungarian capital who describes these ‘beer gardens’ as follows:
abandoned properties. There you can lounge the night away secluded in
the crumbling courtyard of what, a hundred years ago, was the home of a
wealthy Magyar gentleman. Some gardens are simple affairs with chairs,
candles and a bar. Others are more elaborate, and feature barbecues,
dance floors, live music, DJs, film screens and exhibitions by young
artists.”
Unfortunately, as happens with country specific sites, most of the links provided in the guide lead to non-English pages.
An exception is Szimpla, one of the elder statesmen of the movement which offers an English version.
Besides offering music daily as their Program shows, Szimpla also rents bicycles during opening hours. They added Berlin and Romanian locations in the past year or so.
The ‘beer gardens’ are opened from late Spring to late September when the less clement weather has many hibernating.
Any similar outlets in your neck of the woods, let us know.
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