The Cafe Tambosi at the Odensplatz is the city’s oldest cafe which has been continuously and has brought Italian flair to the Bavarian capital some 240 years ago. The tradition is likely to end by the end of the year, as there are plans to close it this December, sueddeusche.de and other local media reported yesterday, July 20, 2016. Sueddeutsche Zeitung spoke with Frank Waldecker, who is currently running the place, and he confirmed that he is going to have to close due to an increase in rent.

The Tambosi is only one of a host of Munich’s well-known establishments which have closed during the past few years. Last week local media reported about the closing of the Karmeliten-Apotheke near the Frauenkirche. The pharmacy has been there or at other addresses of the borough for over 400 years and will probably close soon as there is no guarantee for longtime rent.

The closing of more and more traditional shops, pharmacies, cafes, cinemas and other places which have been characteristic for Munich and are located in central Munich have to close because of the rental prices in the Bavarian capital skyrocketing to prices which only international chains can stem.

The closing of the traditional establishments has been getting a lot of media attention over the past few years and this sometimes helps to save them. In the past week we have written about the Maxim cinema in Munich-Neuhausen which had already closed and it looked as if it would become the next in a slew of closed smaller cinemas in the city, but a group of local enthusiasts decided to preserve the only cinema of the borough. They are currently renovating and modernising and hope to re-open the cinema this October as the Neues Maxim. But this example is an exception to the rule and it will become even harder for small businesses to survive in the best locations of central Munich.