British start-up workers discovered hiding in Berghain darkroom for last six months in attempt to remain European

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As dawn broke over Berlin last Thursday, Europe looked a very different place. With Theresa May’s invocation of Article 50, and Britain’s impending exit from the EU, the future of the many British workers supporting the Startup Ecosystem in Berlin faced uncertainty.

One company in particular wants to ensure the security of their future within the EU, and have taken what some would call drastic measures in order to do so. Kerzwango is an startup with a plan, a dark, dark plan. The company has taken up residence in the one place the Home Office cannot possibly find them. The Berghain Darkrooms.

“The idea started off as a joke” says Senior Executive Intern Clint Brockhammer. “The office’s UK contingent had come here straight from work on the Friday before the Brexit vote, so we already had our laptops, and once we heard the news that we might have to head back to England to live with our parents, it really wasn’t such a hard decision”.

CEO Brendan Smith thinks that the move has actually increased productivity and morale amongst the small band of startup employees that call the left hand corner of the downstairs darkroom their home. “I’ve seen some things that I will never forget, things that when I close my eyes I see vividly, things I could never even have conceived of before I got here. But the wifi connection is actually surprisingly good, and the lads who were sensible enough to bring their headphones with them can usually get their heads down and do some work in the ‘lulls’. Some of the team have actually said they prefer this to the co-working space we were using before, although it is hard to explain to clients what’s going on when we have to do Skype calls”.

So what next for this crew of desperate developers and junior marketing managers? With the uncertainty about the rights of UK workers on the continent set to continue until a deal on freedom of movement is struck, the team plan to ‘bed in’ for at least another few months, freelancing from the world’s most famous techno club.

“At least we got in in the first place” says Clint.