Gennady Kanishchenko, owner of the legendary Kyiv bar Baraban (Ukrainian for “drum”), says the landlord is trying to force the bar out.
The regular
bar customers believe that the shutdown of Baraban would be a huge loss. The
bar that has been open for 15 years has become a renowned meeting place for
Ukrainian and foreign journalists, activists and expats, and a vital part of
the city bar culture.
Kanishchenko
raised his eyebrows when he saw an online ad offering the Baraban premises for
rent on Jan. 21.
He has been
running the bar for three years after buying it from a previous owner and says
that he always paid the rent on time.
“We didn’t
expect it,” he told the Kyiv Post. “The announcement included pictures of our
property, the interiors and the summer terrace.”
Kanishchenko
then contacted one of the owners and told them that it was wrong of them to
publish the announcement without as much as a warning to the current tenants.
The landlord apologized and the ad was removed from the classifieds
advertisements website.
But the
problem remained.
In a couple
of days, Kanishchenko received a letter from the landlord, first by email,
later on paper, saying that the Baraban owners systematically violated the rent
contract. The owner demanded that Kanishchenko paid the electricity debts that he
says he had never heard of before.
Serhiy Ataman, the landlord’s
representative, did not respond Kyiv Post’s phone calls and text message.
The
contract with the property owners was signed in 2012, and prolonged for another
three years last August.
“I can
explain the actions of the property owner,” Kanishchenko said. “The only actual
reason I can think of is that he hopes to lend the space for more money.”
Kanishchenko
said he would try to find understanding with the property owner, but if there
will be no other option, Baraban would move somewhere else.
“That would
be a shame though. I don’t know whether we would manage to move the Baraban’s
aura,” he said.
Kanishchenko
said that before buying Baraban in 2012 he had never been connected to the
restaurant business and decided to purchase it because he “wanted to save it as
a historical site for Kyiv.”
“I often
went to Baraban in 2004 and 2005 years. During the Orange Revolution it was a
gathering place for people who played active roles in it,” he said.
During
another Ukrainian revolution, the EuroMaidan protests in 2013-2014, Baraban
didn’t stay away as well. The bar invited protesters for a free cup of coffee
or tea.
“As you
know, we are almost on Khreshchatyk Street. It’s cold outside and it might get
even colder,” the post on the Baraban’s Facebook page said in December of 2013.
“Here, you can warm up, charge your mobile devices, and share the news.”
Dmytro
Potekhin, prominent Ukrainian activist, who have been coming to Baraban since
its launch in 2000, told the Kyiv Post the bar will be greatly missed if closed.
“This is
the significant place for many journalists and activists from all over the
world. Many useful and important initiatives have been planned here, including
the ones during the Orange and EuroMaidan Revolutions,” Potekhin said. “If it
disappears, it would not be just my loss; it would be a loss for entire Kyiv.”
