Athens' Mouria cafe in Exarchia closes after 111 years as its lease lapses

A farewell on the last Saturday

Crowds gathered on the afternoon of Saturday, 31 October, to say goodbye to Mouria, the cafe at the corner of Kallidromiou and Charilaou Trikoupi streets in Exarchia, Athens. Regulars and neighbours sang, talked and shared memories in the familiar room. A send-off expected to run into the small hours will end with the cafe's large iron doors shutting for good in the early hours of Sunday, 1 November. The cafe opened in 1915, so the closure ends 111 years of continuous service in a neighbourhood long known for its leftwing solidarity and radicalism.

Forty-four years of early openings

Christos Vanas, a taciturn former waiter, has run the cafe for 44 years. He opened the doors every day at 7am, before he had his own first coffee. On Saturdays he was already at work from 5am, serving tsipouro and other spirits to stallholders at the street market outside. His daughter Areti said the Saturday routine was the one exception to his daily pattern, and she smoked a Karelia, a Greek cigarette brand that has existed for more than a century. Writers, artists, poets, politicians, doctors and lawyers were among the cafe's regulars for decades.

Lease, petition and the state's silence

The lease expired in the summer of 2026 and the owners chose not to renew it. News that the cafe was at risk had emerged back in May 2026, provoking strong reaction in the neighbourhood. A campaign asked the Greek Ministry of Culture to declare the cafe a protected monument of cultural heritage. The Guardian reported 7,500 signatories, while another report from Saturday cited more than 6,000 signatures gathered within a few days. The ministry did not take a position, and the campaign did not succeed.

A neighbourhood under pressure

The closure is tied in the reporting to a wider shift in Exarchia, where short-term rentals, hotels, brunch spots and wine bars have changed the character of the streets. The number of foreign tourists in Athens has more than doubled over the past decade. The Guardian described the cafe as the last fortress of a neighbourhood where the counterculture is being squeezed. Nontas Papayannis, a retired barrister who has frequented the cafe for 20 years, called the closure another loss.

“It will be as if a friend died”

Papayannis, who is in his seventies, visits the cafe at least four times a week, usually in the first hour after noon. Stelios Goutis, an 83-year-old actor best known for playing a priest in the television series Hara's Cafe, spoke of the calming effect of traditional eateries in Greek social life. He described the cafe as a place where people unwind after work and meet friends, and he called its loss a kind of psychotherapy lost.

What comes next

The sources do not say what will replace the cafe or who will take over the premises. The timeline below records the dates reported so far.