Hamburg’s Central Congress Bar is all about 1960s smoky boardroom glamour

For those of us never acquainted with the smoky boardroom glamour of the 1960s and 1970s, Hamburg’s Central Congress Bar exists to thrill with a sense of the illicit. Where else might one drink a cocktail and smoke a cigarette in such a formal office-style setting in the 21st century?

At Central Congress Bar, a conference-style location meets a laid-back drinks menu

From outside, on the cold and imposing Steinstrasse, Central Congress Bar’s floor-to-ceiling windows offer a unique insight into the past. The space looks, at first glance, like a boardroom, complete with strip lighting overhead and grey, square-tiled carpet underfoot. Only the incognito stainless steel bar in the corner and the nightly influx of dock worker-hat-wearing clientele give the game away.

Owners Johannes Wilder and Oliver Horr opted against trendy neighbourhood Sternschanze or tourist-heavy Sankt Paulli for their boardroom-themed break from the working day. Their innovative concept had to be in Hamburg’s centre, moments away from the city’s Central Station, placing the bar at the heart of the business district.

‘Before we opened here, this used to be a dodgy travel agent,’ says owner Wilder, who has a penchant for all things old, especially places around Hamburg with a nostalgic feel.

Every last inch of the space is brand new, but you wouldn’t know it, looking at the chestnut-coloured wood panelling that lines the walls – divided by sleek, vertical gold lines and accented with a golden wall clock to let all in the room know when happy hour begins. Midcentury leather chairs in bottle green have been placed around the room edges, on the periphery of a conference table designed to invite conversation.

‘It started with the belief that bars are not supposed to be dingy places in basements with ugly red walls,’ says Wilder, acknowledging that too many bars in his city fall under this description. ‘We wanted a beautiful space with precise and delicious cocktails and a clean environment but also a convivial feel, where people can meet someone new and talk with someone different from the person they came in with,’ he says, referencing how a table with Castelli chairs is oriented to encourage guest interaction.

Thoughtful touches dotted around the room only add to the allure of this place – a glass vase filled with white peonies, a drinks trolley complete with old newspapers and heavy glass ashtrays for the smokers, who will relish the rare opportunity to light up in this old-style setting.

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