Ben Klock Defends Berlin's Hipster Influx

Born and bred Berliner and Berghain resident Ben Klock has admitted in an interview with Skruff that he is happy about the influx of 'hipsters' to the clubbing city. Whilst the DJ agrees that he finds it strange to "hear posh kids from the [UK] home counties discuss their nightly exploits and see stylish Swedes sipping espressos,” he admits that he "doesn't have a problem with it".

“Of course Berlin is the hip thing for a few years and a lot of hipsters are moving here. But I’m an original Berliner and I don’t think it has to stay the same as it always was," he says. “Actually when I was young I was travelling a lot and coming back home, to former West Berlin, I always thought it was such an old and boring city. There were a lot of old people, and nothing really going on, I thought, so I was always happy when I was going abroad and seeing other cultures and countries. I’m quite happy that Berlin is open now."

Berlin's gentrification has recently become a hot topic after a video made a year ago by a rather angry and jaded bar owner from Berlin's Neukoln district recently went viral (see below). In the video the bar owner rants that “fucking artists, students and layabouts” were causing high property prices and ruining the traditionally bohemian feel of the city.

However Berlin journalist Jochen Hung this week branded the video as ‘odious and misdirected’ and suggested that Berlin’s rising property prices are being driven by speculators rather than incomers.

Listen to Ben Klock on Pulse Radio