Meeting point at Kaiserhafen

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Front view of the restaurant Treffpunkt Kaiserhafen (2012)

The meeting point Kaiserhafen is a restaurant with a maritime atmosphere in Bremerhaven , which acts as a seaman's pub and restaurant at the same time . The self-proclaimed “Last pub before New York ”, which was also popular under this name , became known as a magnet for tourists far beyond the borders of the seaside city and has already been the scene of several television productions . The restaurant is located directly on the Alte Bananenpier in Kaiserhafen III in the city ​​of Bremen's overseas port area in Bremerhaven.

history

The counter in "the last bar before New York" (2018)

Originally, the restaurant was a lounge and break room for dock workers , which was created by a social service for dock workers shortly after the Second World War in the 1940s, when the port companies had no social rooms or canteens. The dock workers could warm up there in bad weather and consume the meal they had brought with them or drink a beer after the end of the shift. A small snack bar supplied them with warm drinks, bottled beer and meatballs. The heat hall was operated by the social welfare organization, which still owns the building today, until the end of the 1970s. In the early 1980s, the meeting point was expanded to a restaurant and has been leased since then.

Over the years, the tenants have furnished and decorated the premises with an extensive hodgepodge of original maritime exhibits, most of which were donated. The entrance consists of a wooden bridge structure ; And in the restaurant you can find figureheads , machine telegraphs , a radar device and a foghorn , which come from various old ships , as well as a diving suit with a copper diving helmet that once belonged to a Bremen harbor diver. The dining room furnishings themselves also come partly from ships; such as the tables where once the passengers of the former English Channel - ferry Stena Fiesta fed and even the original fiddles have. There is also a large saltwater aquarium in the guest room .

A typical north German dish: Labskaus served in the Kaiserhafen meeting point

The meeting point Kaiserhafen , which also includes a club room, has a total of 150 seats. The restaurant, which "also has one of the longest counters in Bremerhaven", offers international cuisine in particular, rustic northern German cuisine with home-style cooking and various fish dishes.

The mixed crowd of seafarers and dock workers as well as office staff and managers from surrounding companies now attracts mainly tourists. An in-house trio plays to dance every weekend and brings live sailor music from the 1950s and 1960s. Not least because of its original interior, the meeting point has often been the backdrop for both films and unusual celebrations and events. In February 2012, for example, the crew of the luxury liner Disney Fantasy , which was built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg and equipped at the Bremerhaven cruise terminal , celebrated their farewell to Seestadt at the meeting point - the “last bar before New York” - before the crew left Transfer trip to New York City went.

The restaurant is now regarded as "one of the most rustic pubs on the entire North Sea coast ". The owner has been restaurateur Martin Benecke since 2003, who himself comes from a family of boatmen and has some maritime experience.

reception

The Kaiserhafen meeting point has meanwhile been widely reported in the press, for example in the Hamburger Abendblatt , in the Nordsee-Zeitung , in various newspapers of the WAZ media group ( Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung and others), in the world and in the Bremer Weser-Kurier . Corresponding reports, some “live from the meeting point”, were also available on radio and television, such as on the radio station Nordwestradio or on WDR television. In addition, several television productions were shot there and broadcast nationwide. These include, for example, with the Adolf Grimme Prize in 1997 excellent RTL series brother donkey with Dieter Pfaff in the lead role or by Radio Bremen for ARD produced and launched in February 2010 at the First German Television broadcast the scene episode royal children , in to which the special atmosphere of the maritime restaurant plays an important role.

In addition to being included in various travel guides , the Kaiserhafen meeting point also found its way into literary works of fiction ; The seaman's pub is the setting in the story Appointment in Rome by the writer Wolfgang Hegewald , published in 1988, and in the 2010 “Bremerhaven- Krimi ” commissioner Kammeier. 1st - 3rd Case by Peter Müller.

The German-born artists Beate Geissler and Oliver Sann, who live in the USA, deliberately chose the Kaiserhafen as one of “the places where global developments become concrete” for the presentation of a newly published illustrated book about their work Personal Kill . Her work was previously shown in the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven in spring 2010 .

Web links

Commons : Meeting point Kaiserhafen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e (ano): The last bar before New York - everything here has a story. In: Weser-Kurier of March 13, 2012, p. 17.
  2. ↑ Nicole Schulze-Aissen: Kaiser Bremerhaven - Maritime treasure chest. In: Weser-Kurier website . May 2, 2019, accessed November 1, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Stelljes: Exciting tips for a vacation on the North Sea →  Last pub before New York . On: Online portal DerWesten.de of the WAZ media group from April 27, 2011; Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  4. ^ A b c Gerald Kistner: Meeting for bosses and dock workers. In: Nordsee-Zeitung of March 26, 2010.
  5. ^ A b Wolfgang Stelljes: Bremerhaven - Little Dubai on the Waterfront . In: Die Welt from June 27, 2009; Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  6. ↑ Bernd Schiller: Bremerhaven. Hein Mück has made himself fine . In: Hamburger Abendblatt from August 21, 2010; Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  7. ↑ See press release of the then Nordwestradio dated January 27, 2010, on the live broadcast of a discussion event from the meeting point at Kaiserhafen in the radio broadcast Nordwestradio on the way .
  8. ↑ The last bar before New York ( memento from August 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) - portrait of the restaurant in the television magazine Wunderschön! of WDR television on June 12, 2011.
  9. ↑ August 9, 2010 […] Catalog presentation Personal Kill . On: website of the art association Bremerhaven ; Retrieved March 13, 2012.

Coordinates: 53 ° 34 ′ 7.2 ″  N , 8 ° 33 ′ 42.6 ″  E