Lommerzheim

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Lommerzheim (2019)

The Lommerzheim , also called Lommi , is a restaurant in Cologne-Deutz , which was operated in its original form from 1959 to New Year's Eve 2004 by the hosts Hans and Annemie Lommerzheim. The combination of a dilapidated and neglected building, the apparently never renovated interior and the peculiarities of the host couple gave the pub the reputation as “the most Cologne of all Kölsch pubs ”. After several years of vacancy, the restaurant was renovated based on the furnishings of the old restaurant and reopened in March 2008.

Hans Lommerzheim

Renovation work in August 2007

The landlord Hans Lommerzheim (born September 17, 1930; † June 28, 2005), known as "Lommi", used to be Köbes in the Päffgen brewery , which was a house brewery that only produced for its own needs. Equipped with the then first and still rare permission from the brewer to serve his Kölsch outside the brewery, he opened his own restaurant in 1959 on Deutz Siegesstraße. He took over this together with his wife Annemie (* 1932; † 23 May 2016) from his parents, who had been running an inn in the house since 1945.

1959-2004

Buildings and furnishings

Pub sign of the Lommerzheim

There are no published records of the original condition of the building at Siegesstraße 18. Unlike the neighboring houses, it has no roof structure. The undeveloped property, located to the left of the house from the street, offers a view of the exposed brick wall. Facing the street, the house shows a facade that has been weathered for many years with four window axes on the uninhabited upper floor. Above it is the outdated neon advertisement " Dortmunder Actien-Bier " - this beer brand was no longer in the bar in Hans Lommerzheim's time. The ground floor is dominated to the right by a large wooden lattice window with an integrated entrance door. To the left of it is a door to the stairwell. “Restaurant” is written in tin letters above the entrance area. A four-story apartment building is immediately adjacent to the right.

The approx. 50 m² taproom can be reached through an inwardly opening door. The interior design until 2004 was largely the same as when the restaurant opened. However, over the years damage has been repaired, defective furniture exchanged, minor renovations carried out and souvenirs added. The kitchen also had contemporary furnishings. The taproom was partially paneled with brown wood, otherwise wallpaper was attached that had taken on a brown hue over the years. There were few simple tables and a few places at the counter. Until the landlord closed, there was no dispenser , television, cigarette machine, music system or cash register . The simple toilets were in an annex that was only accessible from the backyard. The 30-liter wooden barrels with Kölsch, which were delivered daily, were stored in a cold store next to the toilets and then rolled into the tap room.

Hospitality

With the exception of Tuesdays, the restaurant was open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to around midnight. Table reservations were not possible. Annemie Lommerzheim tapped while her husband served. Otherwise there was no service staff. The landlord did not take orders for the beer, but took it to where it was needed. In addition to Kölsch, Lommerzheim had two types of wine, soft drinks and some spirits in its range. The selection of food consisted of thick chops , Halven Hahn , sausage, garlic sausage and Thursdays and Fridays Hämmchen . While this small selection of dishes dominates the retrospective perception and reporting, there was also a menu with more varied dishes in the early years of the restaurant: contemporary witness reports from the 1970s describe a home- style restaurant. In the winter months, there were Rhenish-style mussels , and on Ash Wednesday there was a traditional fish meal.

success

Bar after the reopening of the restaurant with the original counter lamp

Up until the 1970s, the Lommerzheim was described as an ordinary, “well-running” inn with a “bourgeois-decent” concept. In the course of the 1980s, it was perceived as a “cult pub”. Lommerzheim was mentioned in local city and gastronomy guides, starting with the “TAGNACHT” magazine of StadtRevue . The influx of guests increased, so that a queue formed in front of the door every day, especially in the afternoons, and the restaurant was crowded every evening.

According to the interpretation of the authors Günter Mahlke and Hans Schumacher, the restaurant, which has remained almost unchanged for decades, has formed a kind of "island in times of change", on which the enormous differences between the 1950s and the 1990s could be temporarily hidden - the longing for stability, Reliability and predictability were satisfied. The audience consisted of Deutzers, regulars from Cologne as well as tourists and trade fair guests who were attracted by the restaurant's recommendation in their travel literature. Hans Lommerzheim is described as very taciturn but quick-witted - numerous anecdotes about him have come down to us, in the meantime he is referred to as Kölsches Original . When Bill Clinton wanted to visit an authentic Kölsch pub on the occasion of the World Economic Summit in Cologne in 1999 , his companions asked Lommerzheim - however, the restaurant should have been closed to the public for security reasons. Lommerzheim is said to have said “Nah, dat jeiht not!” - then the regulars would have to stay outside. Clinton finally returned to the much larger Malzmühle brewery .

The End

On December 31, 2004, the 74-year-old Hans Lommerzheim closed his restaurant for health reasons. The Rhenish Open-Air Museum tried to get permission to dismantle the entire building, including the interior, and to rebuild it on the museum grounds; the Cologne City Museum only wanted to expand and conserve the inventory. Lommerzheim refused both offers. Half a year later he died while on vacation.

reopening

The Päffgen brewery in Cologne bought the house from Lommerzheim's widow and renovated the historic pub without changing its atmosphere. After the renovation and expansion in the vaulted cellar, the restaurant was reopened on March 13, 2008 in the presence of Annemie Lommerzheim, the current owner Rudolf Päffgen and the new landlord Frank Glitscher. In the tradition of 1959, the first Kölsch barrel was transported to the pub by bike, this time by the brewer Rudolf Päffgen.

In memory of Hans Lommerzheim

Lommi fountain in the house's beer garden
Street sign Hans-Lommerzheim-Weg

An association founded in 2005 and the Päffgen company donated a fountain in the restaurant's beer garden in May 2009. The bronze relief shows the deceased innkeeper with a beer tap. A place setting (plate, cutlery, mustard pots and a gnawed bone from the chops served there) from the pub, "stolen" as a souvenir by the later club chairman Peter Mees on the last opening day, was given to the Cologne City Museum by the rightful owner Annemie Lommerzheim wants to exhibit historical table setting of a special Cologne restaurant culture.

Five years after his death, a street was named after Lommerzheim. The footpath that leads from Siegesstraße, diagonally opposite the restaurant, past the Deutz youth hostel to the Cologne Messe / Deutz train station , was named after him in Hans-Lommerzheim-Weg on the initiative of the Greens and provided with a street sign written in Fraktur , the one below shows the host's life data. For the inauguration of one was Brings - keyboardist composed Kai Engel Lommerzheim song listed.

music

In 2015, the Cologne band Miljö released the song Su lang die Leechter noch brenne, which begins with the line Sulang bei Lommi die Leechter noch brenne ... ('As long as the Lommi the lights are still burning ...').

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bernd Imgrund , Britta Schmitz : 111 Cologne places that you have to see 2008, ISBN 978-3-89705-618-3 , p. 130.
  2. ↑ Mahlke / Schumacher, p. 89.
  3. ↑ From Cologne for cult restaurant Lommerzheim. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , December 27, 2004.
  4. ↑ http://www.express.de/koeln/trauer-um-koelsche-kult-wirtin-annemie-lommerzheim-im-alter-von-84-jahren-gestorben-24117712
  5. ↑ Mahlke / Schumacher, p. 128.
  6. ↑ Mahlke / Schumacher, pp. 89-90, pp. 98-99.
  7. ↑ Mahlke / Schumacher, p. 128.
  8. ↑ "Lommi" led a strict regime. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , March 12, 2008
  9. ↑ a b Mahlke / Schumacher, p. 119.
  10. ↑ Dirk Holterman : Streifzüge 2. New wonderful tours through North Rhine-Westphalia. Here and today Schlütersche , 2002, ISBN 3-87706-855-3 , p. 80.
  11. ↑ Mahlke / Schumacher, p. 93
  12. ↑ Welcome, / Bill Clinton - How the American President won the hearts of Cologne residents. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 19, 1999
  13. ↑ Regulars even have priority over Clinton. In: Kölnische Rundschau , October 25, 2004.
  14. ↑ Bernd Imgrund: Lommerzheim - A memorial for the landlord. In: 111 Cologne pubs that you have to know. Emons 2012, ISBN 978-3-89705-838-5 , p. 132.
  15. ↑ Museum wants the whole pub including the facade. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , February 24, 2005.
  16. ↑ The end of the thirsty stretch. In: ksta.de , March 12, 2008
  17. ↑ The Kölsch is running again. In: ksta.de , March 13, 2008
  18. ↑ … a memorial for Lommi: website of the association
  19. ^ A memorial for Lommerzheim. In: Kölner Stadt Anzeiger , May 11, 2009, p. 27.
  20. ↑ Cutlet bones for the museum. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , July 2, 2007.
  21. ↑ Lyrics

literature

  • Günter Mahlke, Hans Schumacher (eds.): Lommerzheim - small luck op Kölsch . 4th edition. Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-924182-39-6 .
  • Bernd Imgrund: 111 Cologne pubs that you have to know . Emons, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-89705-838-5 .
  • Peter Mees: "Rheinische stories", with two stories of the first and the last day of the visit at Lommerzheim: . AKA-Verlag Köln, Cologne 2014, ISBN 3-928408-20-8 .
  • Norbert Bergrath, Markus Werker (ed.): Lommerzheim ... the legend lives on . Pellens Verlag, Bonn 2016, ISBN 978-3-9810534-7-0 .

Web links

Commons : Lommerzheim  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 19.1 ″  N , 6 ° 58 ′ 25.1 ″  E