History

The first building that stood where the “Gilden im Zims” stands today was the “Minnefusshaus” in 1163. As the street level was 8 meters lower at that time, the remaining walls are now part of the cellar. In 1563, the upper part of the building was completely rebuilt and thus became the building we know today. Johann Zims acquires the town house in 1920 and turns it into the “Haus Zims” restaurant.

As a result of the air raids in 1943, the building burnt out completely, leaving only the façade from 1563 standing, which is preserved to this day. During this event, the Zims family fled to the cellar of the house, where they were trapped in a room with a well and buried by rubble. After four days, Johann Zims threw a coin into the well and made a wish.

He wished that his loved ones would survive. Half a day later, the whole family was rescued and freed from the cellar. In 1946, the building was repaired by the family and the “Haus Zims” is reopened.

Johann Zims’ son Hans Zims (“King of the Nights”) became a famous racing cyclist in Cologne. He and his racing friends met regularly at “Haus Zims” until it became a “meeting place for sport” in the 1950s.

In 2006, Hans-Willi Zims, son of Hans Zims, decided to modernize and expand the cellar to make room for a larger cold store. During this conversion, a Roman vaulted cellar and other artifacts from Roman times were found. The vaulted cellar was restored and the found artifacts were placed under glass panels so that guests can admire them. The renovation of the building took three years and the restaurant was reopened in 2009.

The new Gilden im Zims has been open since November 24, 2009. On four levels and two terraces, there is room for up to 1,000 people in a modern but typical Cologne brewery. In the “home of Cologne heroes”, guests can also learn a lot about Cologne originals.

Gilden Kölsch

In 1863, the “Brauerei Wwe. Franz Lülsdorf” was founded in Mühlheim, and later acquired by the Greven family in 1869, when it was renamed the “Brauerei Michael Greven”. After the death of Michael Greven, his wife married the master brewer, Adam Balsam. In 1890, the brewery moved to Bergisch Gladbacher Straße for technical reasons, and was renamed “Brauerei Balsam OHG”. Due to declining beer sales after the First World War, the breweries “Balsam OHG” and “Löwenbrauerei” merged in 1919, to become the “Balsam bergische Löwenbrauerei”. The brewery acquired other Cologne breweries, including the “Zum Gildenhaus”, opposite the town hall, which is namesake of the Gilden Kölsch. In 1967, six different beers were brewed in the brewery, but by 1970, Gilden Kölsch already accounted for 60% of production. By 1985, there were already 3000 catering outlets where Gilden Kölsch was available. In 1993, together with Sion Kölsch, Gilden was the leading brand, and in 2011 the brands merged with the other four Radeberger brands into the “Haus Kölscher Brautradition”. In 2021, after 150 years of brewing tradition, the brewery closed and since then, production continues under the Früh Brauerei.