Located on an unlikely residential street in Friedrichshain’s Samariterkiez, Freibeuter is an enclave of unreconstructed punk scuzz in a neighbourhood still reeling from rapid gentrification. There is a vague pirate theme to the décor, and while some of the regulars do look as though they could have had careers as pirates in an earlier century, the crowd is mostly a mix of punks, rockers and locals of all ages. The music (mostly hardcore and rock) is agreeable, the beer is inexpensive and the pool table in the back—one of the few free pool tables in all of Berlin—is a good place to learn the German they don’t teach you in language school.