Staff and customers at Alt Berlin. Photograph: Pamela Spitz  Opened in 1893 and claimed by some to be the oldest bar in the German capital, Alt Berlin is a favourite haunt of artists, bohemians and lowlifes. But with rents rising at an unprecedented rate, "Berlin's last village local" may soon be no more: unless a petition can change the landlord's mind, it will close its doors for the last time at the end of April.  Few tourists who stream down Münzstrasse into the city centre dare enter the bar with its dark wood panelling, and many of those who do walk straight out again. From 8pm until closing time in the early hours, regulars jostle elbow to elbow in the narrow main room. No other Berlin bar has defied the attempted smoking ban with such passion, and whoever wrote "Smells like pee spirit" on the wall in the gents' toilets wasn't wrong. There is one window, but it tends to remain shut for fear of waking the neighbours.  However, those who do order a drink rarely leave after just one. In a city where many people make a point of not going outside their kiez, or neighbourhood, Alt Berlin is a rarity – a local that people travel to from around the city to soak up the unique atmosphere.  Bertolt Brecht and writers Alfred Döblin and Joseph Roth reportedly used the place as a second home; Quentin Tarantino drinks here when he is in town and gets to choose the music. Last year Bill Murray walked in, had a quiet beer in the corner, "and no one really cared", said Thorsten Schilling, a regular.  "The mix of people here is sensational: you get hipsters and 70-year-olds, and they all treat each other like family," said Schilling, who for years has made his way from Kreuzberg across the river Spree to visit. "It's unique."  Dana Tucker, a barkeeper and former burlesque dancer, said there were about 100 regulars who were served their drink of choice when they walked in without having to say a word.  Arnd Kaestner, another regular, said people who showed they were pleasant were rewarded with a shot of Halb & Halb. The dark brown liqueur was allegedly invented as a cure for cholera in 1831.  If Alt Berlin hasn't changed much over the decades, the city around it has. Its neighbours are no longer brothels and billiards bars but designer stores. The brick and sandstone building itself is listed but the interior isn't. "Why can't they put people on the national heritage list?" asked Rosie Mohamed, owner of a shoe-repair shop.  Some of Alt Berlin's fans have started an online campaign to gut the bar and move it a couple of hundred metres down the road, but few of its older clientele use social media. "All the people I needed to meet in the world, I met in this place," said Mohamed. "Berlin doesn't need us any more now."
Online campaign launched to save Alt Berlin, which opened in 1893 and is known for its familial atmosphere