Gastronomy in the village
When Count Philipp von Merode-Middelburg, Lord of Frenz, abolished the compulsory brewing right in 1620 and granted it in return for an annual tax, there were at least four breweries in the village of Frenz in 1640. In the records of that time it said: „The inhabitants of the Gülichen Landis and sunderlich die zo Frentz sind dem Biertrinken fast gentzlich zugetan. However, the locations of these breweries have not been handed down. But the three inns that existed in Frenz in more recent times have:
The Müller inn in Unterstraße, the „Glück auf“ pub on the corner of Oberstraße and Friedhofstraße and, until shortly after the war, the „Hotel Restaurant zum Bahnhof Frenz“ at the end of Langerweher Straße.
Restaurant Müller
The last remaining restaurant in Frenz is the „Gaststätte Müller“ in Unterstraße, now run by Silvia Müller.
From the beginning it was a gastronomic business with a dance hall and an attached farm.
Announcement posters from the time around 1900, however, prove that the locality was run under the name of the widow Wilhelm „Wertz“, at least for a while.
In this context, it is interesting to note that due to the cramped conditions in the school building at that time towards the end of the 19th century, where there were a total of 117 pupils to be looked after, the dance hall on the upper floor of the then Wertz inn had to be temporarily set up as a class for girls.
At least from 1904 onwards, the company name „Restauration Jakob Roberts“ appears in advertisements, as an excerpt from a picture postcard also shows.
Before 1950, the inn was run for at least a short time under the name „Leonards“, who also ran a saddlery at the same time.
A licence application dated 19 January 1950 shows that the inn was run by Johann Müller from that time onwards.
In the 1950s, when the Inde had not yet been regulated, there were frequent heavy floods, as can be seen in the picture opposite.
On 26 January 1954, the rear part of the inn and the stables fell victim to a major fire. Five head of cattle were burnt; five more had to be emergency slaughtered. The total damage amounted to DM 40,000.
„Glück Auf“ Restaurant
Where today there is no sign of a former inn on the façade of the house at Oberstraße 37, there was once and for many decades an inn with an adjoining hall for various festivities and events.
The first innkeeper was probably Ferdinand Notthoff, as is shown in an advertisement dated 23 December 1902.
There is no record of exactly when Wilhelm Mock took over the running of the inn. In 1926, however, it was in his possession, as an invitation from the warriors‘ association dated 13 November 1926 shows.
After the war, the owners changed more frequently. For varying lengths of time, the „Glück Auf“ pub was run by Karl Schepp, Odilia and Wilhelm Müller, the Duisberg couple, Ilse and Manfred Schepp, Adolf Thelen, and Gerta and Günther Gillessen.
The last owners were Maria and Cesario Mariotti, who ran the ice-cream parlour „Roma“ in the converted premises until the beginning of the 1990s and then later moved into the vacated premises of the former Dolfen shop on the corner of Burgstraße/Hofstraße.
The photo at the top right is from 1953 and shows Wilhelm Schieren, then King of the Riflemen, in front of the entrance to the inn.
The photo on the left dates from the early 1960s, when the street was already asphalted.