A Muslim couple have been kicked out of a German tennis club restaurant they had renovated because they refused to sell beer to players and guests.
Bayram and Isabell Dalkilic had been due to open their Gozleme Haus restaurant at Tennis-Club Rot-Weis in Giessen, a university city in the central German state of Hesse, in April.
Picture shows the Giessen Rot-Weiss tennis club in Giessen (Hesse), Germany, undated. Note: Image is a screenshot from video. (GoogleMaps/Newsflash/NX)
But the couple, who have three children, were given notice just two days before the planned launch after a row erupted over whether alcohol should be served at the club.
Bayram and Isabell had taken over the restaurant at the start of the year and wanted to offer Anatolian food at the club.
The couple, who are known locally for their food stall at the weekly market in Giessen, had also moved into the flat above the restaurant with their children.
But the restaurant that the couple had recently renovated has remained closed after the tennis club terminated the lease without notice.
The club insists it did not know the new restaurant would refuse to serve alcohol and says members expected to have a choice.
Club chairman Fred Ostermeyer told local media: “The contract says that any change to the gastronomy concept has to be agreed with us in advance. We said we expected freedom of choice.”
He said that meant both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks should be available to members and guests.
The board later voted unanimously to terminate the lease, according to local reports.
Fred also accused the couple of changing the concept without telling the club.
He said: “The tenants changed the gastronomy concept without informing us. That was a breach of contract, which is why the immediate termination was issued, and we will not withdraw it. Our position is clear and will not change.”
The couple deny misleading the club and say their original concept was always based on Anatolian food without alcohol.
The dispute centres on the couple’s alcohol-free concept, with Bayram saying beer and wine did not fit the food or the family-friendly atmosphere they wanted to create.
Bayram told local media: “That really hit us hard. We did not expect that.”
He said it had been clear before the contract was signed that the restaurant would be run without alcohol.
Isabell also said the decision was not about their Muslim faith, but about the kind of venue they wanted to run.
The row has made national headlines in Germany, where beer is not just a popular drink but often treated as a cultural institution and an expected part of social life, especially in sports and community clubs, with newspapers such as Bild summing up the clash with headlines about “no beer”, even though the couple’s alcohol-free concept also ruled out wine and all other alcoholic drinks.
Bayram and Isabell had hoped to open the restaurant at the start of the outdoor tennis season, when the club’s ten clay courts come back to life after winter.
Instead, the row has left the clubhouse closed and the couple facing the possible loss of both their business and their family home above it.
The club has reportedly threatened to file an eviction lawsuit if the couple do not restore the restaurant and leave the flat.
Bayram and Isabell have not given up hope of finding a peaceful solution and still want to open at the end of May or the start of June.
Their lawyer said the immediate termination was not justified, adding: “We only want one thing: to live here peacefully together.”
(Mike Leidig/Newsflash)
