There are those who see Cologne’s Nippes district as the epitome of gentrification and its consequences. So many children! Too petit bourgeois! And then there are those who’ve long known it as a place where the romanticism of the railways meets the Cologne brand of dolce vita, where you can chill on Schillplatz square with a drink from the local kiosk, gaze at the stars and dance with robots. Welcome to one of the city’s most eclectic neighbourhoods!
Nippes‘ industrial past
Let’s start with the basics. The name Nippes actually refers to two things. It’s a district in the north of the city, consisting of a whole seven neighbourhoods, the largest one of which is also called – you guessed it – Nippes. The neighbourhood was incorporated into Cologne back in 1888 and made manufacturing history in the 19th century although you can’t really tell today. Not far from Wilhelmplatz square, Jacob Mayer became the first person in Germany to produce cast steel. Nippes was also the location that the Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft railway company chose for its repair facilities (parts of which were in what is now the Sechzigviertel area) and the Clouth-Werken company for its rubber production. Today, the former Clouth buildings enjoy protected status and they’ve been turned into an upmarket residential area with eateries, studios and offices. If you happen to be around at lunchtime, bistro Tor 1 in the old Clouth porter’s lodge is a great place to eat (you can find the current menu here).
“Hanging out” in Nippes’ verdant vale
Altenberger Hof in the north of Nippes goes back even further. It’s served as the local community centre for the past 30 years but was previously a farmstead and the vibe is much more rural than urban. That’s thanks in large part to the neighbouring Nippeser Tälchen (“Nippes vale”), where you can “hang out” in spacious hammocks as you take in the countryside. This is just one of a host of green oases – in Nippes, you’re never really far from the next park where you’ll find table-tennis, basketball, football and even skateboarding facilities. As soon as the sun dons its hat, large family gatherings, students, hipsters and sports fans spread out their picnic blankets and the air fills with music and barbecue aromas.
Shops and eateries galore on Neusser Straße in Nippes
There’s quite a buzz on Neusser Straße as well – the main thoroughfare here. The traffic rolls by and the debate surrounding the street’s future rolls on, looking for the best way to keep drivers, cyclists and pedestrians happy. There are supermarkets, health and beauty chain stores, a department store, opticians, mobile phone shops and the local branch of footballer Lukas Podolski’s doner kebab shops. Snuggled between them are gems such as Buchladen Neusser Straße (a bookshop known throughout the city), Böhmer’s greengrocery (selling regionally produced fruit and vegetables), Marhaba with its oriental delicacies and Törtchen Törtchen with fine cakes and pastries, alongside cute cafés like Wohnraum and the traditional Cologne-style pub Em Golde Kappes.
Side-street ateliers and workshops
Wandering through the maze of side streets, you come across period buildings, late 19th century facades, small independent stores, boutiques, ateliers and workshops. Examples include Mooii, with its range of plants and interior design accessories, fashion from Frau Schulze, Nipps49 selling gifts and Kleefisch for treasures of the liquid kind.
Wilhelmplatz flea market
But the place where lovers of second-hand bargains flock on certain Sundays is Wilhelmplatz square and its flea market of city-wide repute. There’s row upon row of stalls to browse, selling practically everything from rare finds from people’s great-grandparents’ attics to, quite literally, the kitchen sink. What you won’t find is new goods. You can get them at the large food market held here from Monday to Saturday though.
While the bargain-hunting continues, KaffeeKiosk serves up divine coffee and legendary sandwiches. Done enough rummaging? Then it’s off to Schillplatz square – the place to be in Nippes, particularly in the summer. Grab a seat, for instance, at one of the tables outside the Morio wine bar, a local institution and rightfully so, or one of the benches, and watch on as children create chalk masterpieces on the pavement around you.
Looking to the stars: Cologne Planetarium
Like everywhere else in Cologne, Nippes has old air-raid shelters too. But behind the sturdy basement doors at the Leonardo-da-Vinci-Gymnasium school to the east of Neusser Straße awaits something you won’t find elsewhere in the city: a planetarium. Above ground, on the building’s roof, two domes house observatories. It’s a fascinating place – partly because of the celestial bodies you can explore here and partly because of the passion displayed both by the physics students who started it back in the 1960s and the volunteers who continue to look after it today.
Subversion meets style: Odonien
With the blessing of the powers that be, Lutherkirche in the Sechzigviertel quarter leads a double life as a church and a venue for a wide range of cultural events. Its Kulturkirche concept features readings by stars from the world of literature as part of the lit.COLOGNE festival, regular performances by local bands such as Brings and lots more.
A different type of performance is on offer at Odonien. Admittedly, you’re virtually in the Neuehrenfeld district here but it’s not a place that can be pigeon-holed anyway. Created by artist Odo Rumpf as a sort of outdoor studio, guests come here to the self-declared “free state for art and culture” to amble between giant works of art made from industrial scrap, enjoy live music in the beer garden and dance all night long to techno. A definite highlight is the weird and wonderful Robodonien festival when the stage is given over to bizarre robots.
If you find yourself in this corner of Nippes in the summer, make sure you drop by Clubheim Olympia. Who’d expect such an idyllic green space here, in the middle of a “railway triangle”? Foodwise, the choice and quality are of a higher league than you might expect of a clubhouse. The terrace is quite simply a lovely place to sit. Below you, tennis balls fly across the net. Above, trains pass by, seemingly floating through the tops of the trees. The perfect end to a nice evening in Nippes with just the right dose of big-city flair.
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