Prohibition sign – “No pub, no dive bar”: Café bans sweatpants – Culture

Pforzheim (dpa) – After bad experiences with people wearing sweatpants, a Pforzheim restaurateur no longer serves customers in overly shabby clothing – and has put up a sign at the entrance to point this out. Men in sweatpants had insulted him and once even peed in the flowers, reported Lambros Petrou from the Art Café. “We are not a bar, not a dive bar, we are a café,” he stressed. When he used to ask customers about their look, they would often reply: “Where does it say that?”

For several weeks now, a sign has been hanging next to the entrance door stating that neither dogs nor entry in sweatpants is allowed – with a crossed-out sweatpants in a red circle. Petrou says it's not about a smart dress code, but about a well-groomed appearance. “The sweatpants are not the problem,” he said – it's the people who wear them. Sometimes I see people walking around in the same pants for days. That's shabby. The “Pforzheimer Zeitung” was the first to report on this.

Restaurant owners have house rules

Above all, it's about grey sweatpants. “These types of pants and these sweatpants-wearing people will ruin my shop if I let them in,” said Petrou. He could also do without it financially. The signs are already bearing fruit, young women in particular feel more comfortable. There's nothing wrong with wide, comfortable pants or modern and stylish sweatpants. Sweatpants could also be socially acceptable today.

Legally, such requirements are permitted, according to a spokesperson for the Baden-Württemberg restaurant association Dehoga. “Within the framework of house rules, restaurateurs can set a dress code for their business, that is not a problem,” Daniel Ohl told the German Press Agency. It is important that the rules of the General Equal Treatment Act are adhered to – and that no one is discriminated against on the basis of ethnic origin, for example.

Origin or religion plays no role in his measures, said Petrou. His guests include 18- and 80-year-olds, students and workers, regular customers and those who come by less often. “I have a bit of everything,” he said (High German: a bit of everything). “But I don't have any riffraff.” What is important is “that people behave correctly.”

His conclusion after the first few weeks: “Everyone feels good, and it should stay that way.” He even plans to hang the sign in an even larger version.

Well-groomed appearance versus sloppy look

The people of Pforzheim are mostly happy with this. Many passers-by expressed understanding in a survey. Johannes Engeln spoke of a good experiment. Most supporters are concerned about “decency” and that men look more well-groomed in jeans. A sometimes sloppy sweatpants look is something for at home. Only one man called Petrou's exclusion “disgusting”. Everyone has the right to live as they want.

Clothing regulations must be seen in a larger context, said Ohl from Dehoga: “A certain ambience is also part of a gastronomic experience. And the guests have a large influence on the ambience.” Swimwear is also banned in some places.

Petrou is also not the first restaurateur to ban sweatpants in his establishment. A few years ago, similar colleagues took measures in Stuttgart and Mülheim an der Ruhr in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example.

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