Berlin clubs kick the drug habit as sober nights lure the crowds

Postcard from Berlin

- Jessica Bateman

Clubbers at Lunchbox Candy's Sugar Free event in Berlin. Adam Munnings.

At 6pm one Sunday in October, a queue was snaking down the street outside Berlin's Aeden nightclub.

Although the city is famous for its multi-day parties, most of these people weren't on the last leg of a three-day bender. They were queuing for the "sugar free" version of one of the city's most popular parties, Lunchbox Candy: a fully sober event.

Inside, on the main dancefloor, drag artist Bibingka led the crowd through a dance workshop, encouraging them to make eye contact and "leave any last bits of anxiety outside the club". The aim was to get people relaxed without the alcohol or drugs they might normally use as social lubricant. It appeared to work: by 8pm the dancefloor throbbed with energy, with bodies flailing to the bass.

Berlin holds the unofficial title of world nightlife capital. Its network of wild clubs, which grew out of the many buildings left abandoned after the fall of the wall in the early 1990s, are estimated to bring in more than €1.5bn a year in both domestic and tourist revenue. Many venues stay open all week and some even have "consumption rooms" to stop drug-takers hogging bathroom stalls.