Essen-Südviertel.
The “Fancy” hookah bar has opened in Essen’s southern district. The prominent owner says: “We want to show that we are not a men’s club.”
- A new bar has opened on Juliusstraße, near Essen’s main train station: the „Fancy“-Bar.
- Offered among other things Cocktails, shakes and waffles. You can also order a shisha.
- The prominent owners the new bar in Essen wants to set itself apart from the negative image of other shisha lounges.
If you stop in front of the glass pane of the shop at Juliusstraße 6, you will see artificial flowers, tables and chairs with velvet covers. A large part of the furnishings and the walls: bright purple. Here, very close to the main train station, a new bar opened in mid-May. The curved lettering on the window pane and above the entrance reveals the simple name of the restaurant: “Fancy” (in German: “chick” or “unusual”).
The owner is a celebrity who wants to stay out of the public eye so that the focus is on the gastronomy concept and not on himself. “I come here more often when I’m in town. Some know that this is my retreat, but it’s not supposed to be a fan meet-up,” he says. Born and raised in Essen, he has plenty of free time from his teenage years onwards in Rüttenscheid and in the southern district spent. Now he has realized his wish to open a shop in his hometown. Unfortunately, there is no extensive nightlife in Essen, he says: “A lot is shifting to Bochum or Düsseldorf.”
His colleague Osi Semmo is there almost every day, he runs the shop and takes care of everything organizational. “I come in, check if everything is in order, what needs to be bought and if the guests feel comfortable,” says the young man, whom some should know from Instagram: There he has over 47,000 followers.
New bar in Essen’s southern district: conversion took six months
Juliusstrasse is a nightlife street, here is this one, for example well-known cocktail bar “Daktari” to find. In the premises of the “Fancy” bar there was previously also a shisha bar. During the corona pandemic, operations there came to a standstill. The new operators completely rebuilt the store, tearing everything out from floor to ceiling and renovating it. It took a total of six months.
Now the bar has a new style, new furniture and new decoration. Guests are seated on purple and dark green velvet chairs, marble-effect floors, and drying bouquets on the tables. A large, green artificial plant wall with the word “Fancy” in pink neon letters invites you to take photos in front of it and upload them to social media.
The bar is geared towards operating in the evening hours. It opens its doors daily at 5 p.m., Monday to Thursday it is open until 1 a.m., and it closes at weekends. There is no rest day. The menu includes cocktails, shakes and waffles. You can also order a shisha. Approximately 70 places are available.
New bar in Essen’s southern district wants to stand out from the shisha cliché
According to the owner, it was important when designing the premises to make a hospitable impression and to signal that everyone is welcome: hence the bright purple instead of dark tones. “Shisha lounges often have a negative image,” he says. “We want to get away from the cliché and show that we’re not a men’s club or anything like that.” So far, the audience has been very mixed and tends to be young, from 18 to 30. We’ll see how this develops over the next few months.
After the bar opening, the “Fancy” team has other plans: They want to open a breakfast café a few meters away, where snacks will also be available throughout the day.
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