It’s That ‘Quality of Life’ World Power Thing

The Sofa bar in the northern city of Kiel caters to a very particular clientele -- unemployed alcoholics. The experiment has been such a success that other cities are now hoping to follow suit.

As opposed to, say, just about every decent sized town center and public park in Germany. Hey! Don’t judge! It’s a lifestyle thing.

It's 10:30 a.m., and things are hopping at the Sofa bar in the northern German city of Kiel. The men sitting at the table on the left, in the front of the room, have already had their first four rounds of beer, the radio is blasting loud guitar riffs, and a young girl hops onto a patron's lap and asks him for a sip. A glass bottle is rolling back and forth on the floor, and the air is thick with cigarette smoke. Atze and Dirk sit at the bar, coughing, rolling unfiltered cigarettes and asking if anyone wants a drink.

A.K.A., a perfectly normal thing to do, enabled by the ‘injection park’ idea, were it not for the fact that public drinking is nearly ubiquitous in German cities, and that they don’t need a “safe place” for what couldn’t ever amount to a handful of those that do it, but rather, just the most responsible of the irresponsible.

In this bar, some of the costs are covered by taxpayer money from the city treasury. The Sofa is Germany's first drinking room, a sort of crash smoking room for alcoholics. Most of the people who frequent the place are serious alcoholics and are allowed to bring their own cheap beer and sangria. The bar itself only serves soft drinks and strong coffee. "It's great," says Dirk, twisting his tattooed face into a smile, "isn't it?"

Yeah – free shit from your non-alcoholic neighbors who actually work. Sure, why not?!?

There are rarely aggressive confrontations, and anyone who does cause trouble is temporarily barred from the premises and forced to drink elsewhere for a few days. "The place is hopping," says Kai. He is 49, a recipient of benefits under the Hartz IV* welfare reform program, and the employment agency* considers him impossible to place. He does have a permanent residence*, like most of the regulars. The homeless rarely turn up at the Sofa.

* More free shit from your non-alcoholic neighbors who actually work.