Coffee, canoes, good mood
reading time 2 min.Boat Trolley Café in Osterbrook
Situated directly on the water, the Boat Trolley Café offers free open-air concerts and cheap drinks. By neighbours for neighbours - and everyone who likes it relaxed.
At the end of a dead-end street in Hamm South, a path leads past trimmed-back hedges down to the banks of the Bille. Here you can buy cheap drinks from a small green caravan in the BOOTsWagen café. In addition, there are deckchairs and canoes for paddling on the surrounding canals, as well as free concerts throughout the summer. In short, the Boat Car Café at Osterbrookplatz is a place where you can easily spend a whole weekend.
The focus of this unusual café is on the togetherness of the neighbours: since this February, the BOOT e.V. association has leased the premises on the Bille - it is intended to provide a good atmosphere in the neighbourhood as a multifunctional meeting place. "We see a strong social component - and want to offer a place of peace for the families in the neighbourhood," says Stefan Malzkorn, chairman and founding member of the association, who himself has lived in Osterbrook since 2012.
Since 2016, Stefan Malzkorn and other people from the neighbourhood have been involved in the area, including the Osterbrooklyn festival. Together they want to "create a positive identity for Osterbrook", he says, because for a long time the residential district of Osterbrook was not considered very attractive. Yet it is only about 15 minutes by bike east of the city centre and thus quite central - "actually optimal", says Stefan Malzkorn.
Surrounded by canals and an industrial area, the neighbourhood is a small island in the city with a lot of potential, because the rents are still affordable. But the infrastructure is poor. And: "We noticed that there were no safe public waterfront areas," says Stefan Malzkorn. Things have changed since this year. Thanks to the neighbours.
The café is easy to reach by public transport: take bus 112 to the Osterbrookplatz stop.
Bootswagen Café, Osterbrookplatz 18a, 20537 Hamburg
