How a village in Brandenburg wants to save its inn

Crisis in the catering industry A village saves its inn Status: October 25, 2026 • 1:06 p.m

In many villages the last restaurants are disappearing. In Leißnitz, Brandenburg, the residents want to prevent this. Together they want to maintain a place where people come together.

Outside there is hammering, sawing and drilling. Inside, time seems to have stood still a little. Bordeaux red curtains frame the small stage in the inn's hall, the herringbone parquet on the floor and the mustard-colored tiled stove in the corner preserve the charm of another time. But outside the Gasthof Schur in Leißnitz, Brandenburg, in the Oder-Spree district, something new has been emerging since the summer.

Space is not just for family celebrations: in the Gasthof Schur in Leißnitz.

Astrid Pagel is the fourth generation to run the inn. Her grandfather was already an innkeeper here. But the past decades have not always been easy. The turning point, changed habits. The corona pandemic ultimately affected the company. “It’s a constant up and down,” says Pagel. She stays afloat primarily through family celebrations and an out-of-home service.

It is by no means a given that the inn will still exist in the future. The “Dorf.Questions” project is intended to help give the inn and the village southeast of Berlin a new perspective.

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Villagers, club members and supporters worked together here throughout the summer. Large tables and benches were made from wood. Before the ceremonial inauguration, the last rough edges are quickly smoothed with sandpaper. There is red shower for the helpers.

Where there was previously no outdoor area, a new meeting place has now been created. A place where you can sit, talk to each other, exchange village gossip or discuss big politics. Even if the inn itself is closed.

Everyone works together for their inn.

The wooden furniture can be flexibly rearranged. Sometimes they form small seating groups, sometimes they form a larger group. For events, the benches can even be placed on the tables to create a small grandstand - for example for theater performances or readings.

“The pub simply opens up to the outside so that you can see that someone is there and you can sit down,” says one of the architects involved, describing the idea.

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The “Dorf.Questions” project is an initiative of the culture and sports management of the Oder-Spree district, which was developed together with freelance architects. The aim is to strengthen cohesion in the villages with creative ideas. “We want to achieve a lot with this project. Above all, cohesion at the village level,” says Arnold Ischinger, head of culture and sport in the Oder-Spree district.

In many places there is still a village community, but there are fewer and fewer public places where they can meet. Life is increasingly retreating into the private sphere. According to the initiators, it takes more than beautifully designed front gardens to keep a village alive.

The old country inns in particular play an important role. Because once a village pub is closed, it will be difficult to bring it back, says Ischinger. That's why it's about supporting the restaurants that still exist today so that they can remain viable tomorrow.

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In several workshops, the people of Leißnitz were able to contribute their ideas, look at models and have a say. Together with the architects, the designs for the movable seating furniture were created, which can also be used by the local theater group and for parties.

The project was financially supported by the Brandenburg Ministry of Science, Research and Culture with 65,000 euros in start-up funding. In addition, there were funds from district cultural funding. They don't want to leave the country inns to the wrong people, said State Secretary for Culture Tobias Dünow (SPD) at the ceremonial inauguration.

New wooden furniture as a meeting point: villagers in front of their inn.

For him, the project also has a political dimension. He warns that dissatisfaction and frustration, especially in rural areas, could be exploited by political forces. Places where people can talk to each other are therefore particularly important. “I believe that good village restaurants are the very best protection of the constitution,” said Dünow.

For innkeeper Astrid Pagel, the new meeting place is above all an opportunity to bring more life back into the village. It is still unclear whether their children will continue to run the inn in the fifth generation. First of all, she hopes that the people of Leißnitz will come together here more often in the future - not just for family celebrations, but also just for fun.

This topic in the program: rbb television | Brandenburg Current | Oct 4, 2026 | 7:30 p.m