In 1988, the studio set and original puppets were destroyed in a fire. The puppets were rebuilt in 1989 with significant changes. The new set was centered around the new bicycle shop that was introduced in 1986, but the street stories no longer took place in a studio set. Instead, a courtyard was added, and new characters were introduced: Rumpel the Grouch (1989–2009), living inside a water barrel, and Buh (1989–2002), an owl housed inside a hollow tree. While the set offered Tiffy a new apartment-like living room in the coming years, it still featured Samson's cave in which he had lived in prior to the set change. Uli von Bödefield was removed from the show due to the creators of "Sesamstraße" not wishing to pay licensing fees. Later in the 1990s, the courtyard slowly transitioned into an entire marketplace, a common social center for German towns and even city districts.