A little hut of the future: A visit to the Cologne cycling landmark Schmitzebud

The currywurst in a jar is a favourite with cyclists, says the former carnival prince. His catering manager has already learnt a lot about racing cyclists over the past few months. For example, that they usually drink their coffee from a small Italian family roastery black.

"It's different in the city centre," says Pascal Droege, who runs two well-known shops in the centre of Cologne, "where people drink flat white and pea milk." But this is the Schmitzebud, according to tradition the oldest kiosk in the city and a racing bike hangout for generations. This is the eastern edge of the city. And this is where at least the tradition-conscious guests in sporty clothing take their hot drinks, primarily with a view to the physical effect. There is little weight on the frame and little ballast in the caffeine drink when you head off into the Bergisches Land. The currywurst, unusually served in a glass and based on a directly imported Thuringian Rostbratwurst, is of course only served afterwards.

The Schmitzebud: cult meeting place for cyclists

It's a Sunday afternoon in late summer, and the "Schmitzebud" is a busy place. Behind the open windows of the glass façade sit youth riders from VfR Büttgen and their parents, alongside walkers, older residents and people who have grown fond of this place at the tables inside the former kiosk. A large screen is showing live coverage of the Tour of Spain, framed autographs of the cycling who'swho hang on the wall, and a jersey of the German cyclocross champion lies on a high table, ready to be added to the Schmitzebud collection.

"This is a place of my childhood memories," says Holger Kirsch, who has brought the "Schmitzebud" back from the gradual process of being forgotten. As a child, the now 50-year-old used to buy Panini pictures here. He had little to do with cycling, the architect became known as Holger I in the Cologne Carnival, from 2019 to 2024 he was the honorary head of the Rose Monday parade in Cologne, and as president he manages the fortunes of the third division football club Viktoria Köln. After all, Kirsch is a keen amateur cyclist, so he also noticed that the old kiosk in his neighbourhood was a real landmark for professional and amateur athletes.

A place of childhood memories

"This is a legendary place," says Jörg Arenz, who brought along one of his German championship jerseys as a gift for the operators. Arenz, now 57, came here for the first time as a 15-year-old. "Back then, I used to come here with Rolf Wolfshohl's Le Loup club, training on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3 p.m.," recalls the father of Leon Arenz, who has already won bronze at the European Track Championships and most recently completed the Tour of Germany on the road. But in recent years, the Schmitzebud had disappeared as a cycling fixture. The permanent RTF event that a Cologne club once organised here was just as passé as the catering. Even hobby meetings, which used to have fixed departure times, were no longer to be seen. There was even the threat of a repeat of the 2008 scenario, when the city of Cologne wanted to unseal the area and remove the kiosk. A successful initiative was founded at the time, but this was followed by the renewed decline of the catering trade. "The conditions we found were adventurous," says Kirsch, who had accepted an offer from a property agent. The interior of the building had to be extensively renovated.

Revitalised tradition for cycling fans

The story is so far advanced that two amateur athletes in the latest cycling gear don't even realise what a historic place they are in. They wondered about the graffiti with the cyclists, but until just now they didn't realise that this is a sacred place for the sport traditionally cultivated in Cologne. They simply enjoy their drinks in the afternoon sun.

But Holger Kirsch has now switched up a gear. Together with his wife and Pascal Droege's team, the architect has put a lot of energy into turning the traditional meeting place back into a temple of cycling. Anyone entering the little house cannot miss the cycling. There is an air pump, the devotional objects on the walls are reminiscent of big races - and a partnership plaque from VfR Büttgen shows that the Schmitzebud also works with organised sport.

The direct link is Grete. The twelve-year-old, one of the three daughters of the former carnival prince, wanted to spend more time with her father. So she asked for a racing bike. She was given an entry-level model for her communion. It soon became clear that she wanted to race. She has now found the right support for young cyclists at VfR Büttgen, she is a regular winner and podium candidate in her age group and her father can no longer keep up with her on the climbs. Holger Kirsch finds this "phenomenal", but also the support from the club and the cohesion in organised cycling, which he experiences as a "family".

The philosophy: Giving something back to the scene

He is enthusiastic, he wants to give something to cycling. The Schmitzebud is intended to serve as a meeting place for this scene in particular. Lars Witte, head of the cycling department at VfR Büttgen, takes care of the social media work for Kirsch's restaurant - and together they are already planning to get involved in organised cycling. For the coming year, Witte and Kirsch want to bring the NRW time trial championships to the nearby "Panzerstraße" in the Wahner Heide and use the Schmitzebud as a base.

Holger Kirsch and his team have not only revitalised the catering trade. It has also brought cycling back into the public eye. The team celebrated the reopening of the traditional café on 26 May, the day of Rund um Köln. The TV broadcast showed them cheering on the last sprint classification at the Schmitzebud, which is part of the race route here every year. Above all, however, Kirsch unveiled a graffiti that brings cycling to the attention of passers-by. It features Nils Politt, Marcel Wüst and Rolf Wolfshohl, three of Cologne's cycling greats from different generations. "When Rolf saw it, he was touched," reports Kirsch, who now also has an old jersey of the Cologne ex-pro hanging in his office. Who would remember that Cologne once had a Vuelta winner? "And that was also my idea: to give the cycling legends of this city a place where they can be recognised once again," says Holger Kirsch. The Schmitzebud is open Thursdays to Sundays, and at weekends from 9.30 a.m. for the first black coffee. Because departure for the Bergisches Land is, there's no discussion, at 10 am.