Dortmund Travel Forum

I am going to Dortmund on 11th May for a few days. I used to be stationed there in the British Army then. I was at West Riding Barracks. Would anyone know if the barracks are still there and still in use?

From the centre of town we used to get Tram number 7 and ask for Nussbaumweg. Does that tram still operate the same route?

I used to frequent the bars in Dortmund Horde area. I wonder what that is like now. The beer I liked best was Dortmunder Hansa out of the 7 different beers that was brewed in Dortmund.

Any idea how I would get from the airport to that part of town?

I am looking forward so much to my visit. I used to watch Borussia Dortmund play a lot. I recall seeing a match against Hamburg when Uwe Seiller was playing. Sigi Held played for Dortmund I think and also the German keeper?

Any info woud be so much appreciated.

pete

Dortmund has of course changed enormously since then!
The British Army there is no more. Many buildings have been demolished or handed over to the German public sector. Some of the quarters have been sold off and done up in true German style. Check out the housing around what was Cornwall School.What a change!
The tram #7 is now 403. See: http://www.vrr.de/Uploads/Stadtlinienplaene/Dortmund.pdf
The bus 440 will take you directly to Hörde, it takes about 30 mins. Cost €2, you can get a ticket from the bus driver, or from the machine at the airport. You can also get a day ticket for €4.70. If you take the tram or underground you must a get a ticket from the machine before you get on, and date stamp it as you had to before. See: http://efa.vrr.de/vrr/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en&itdLPx_vrr_layout= for English timetable info.
Sadly only two breweries remain.

Have fun down memory lane!

Shock! Horror!! Only 2 breweries remain!!!
I can recall.
Dortmunder Hansa
Dortmunder Ritter
Dortmunder Actien
Dortmunder Stifts
Dortmunder Kronen

Forget the other two.

I have only recently heard that the old Kaserne I used to be in has been demolished. Difficult to comprehend it all. It was such a vast area and I just wonder what is in it's place. I can remember the married quaters(cabbage patch we called it). Cannot place Cornwall School but was it in Brackel? The nAAFI was only a short walk across the big main road and across the sports fields.
The number 7 tram, I think, went all the way to Applerbeck. On the corner of Nussbaumweg was a sort of Toc H that we all used to use to have tea, rolls etc and buy our newspapers and magazines. I bet that has long since gone.

I am wondering now if I will be able to recognise anything that will help me get my bearings and bring back memories.

I used to take the back streets from the barracks towards Horde and pass through a small park and then downhill to our little pub on the corner that did wondeful jagerschnitzel mit pomme frites!!! Every Sunday evening we would go and we were known by the landlord and the locals. we knew we were accepted as they always shook our hands as we walked in.

Also we used a few grotty pubs opposite the old steel works on the way to Horde.

happy memories!

I do hope so much that I can recognise one or two things.
I shall enjoy walking around and using the transport as well.

Dortmund brewery takeovers
Had a rethink and I think I have come up with the 'Magnificent seven'.
Hansa
Stifts
Thier
Ritter
Kronen
Union-
DAB

I hear most are closed down now! What a crying shame!!

Have you any idea where a really good 'bier kellar or house' is in Dortmund.

Are there any such establishments in the area near the airport. That is where I shall be staying at Sölder Bruch 30.

Thanks.

The biggest change you'll see is the huge gap in the Hörde landscape that was once the steelworks. Flattened and now a 96 hectare on-going project to include a 24 hectare lake!
For Dortmund beer info see http://www.xs4all.nl/~patto1ro/dortpubs.htm
Head for the old market place in town and the choice will be there at your feet.
Our personal favourite was Hövels, but this is not your traditinal Dortmund beer. It's on the edge of the city. Just ask someone. It's just a short walk from either the main station or the centre of town.
Don't know anywhere around Sölder Bruch but I'm sure your hosts will have plenty of ideas.

Many thanks for all the information that you have given me. I will be in Dortmund next Wednesday 10th May till 13th May. I am looking forward to it even though I may not recognise much. Pity all the old barracks have gone.

If I like Dortmund I was thinking of returning around Xmas time for the Xmas market. I recall fond memories of Dortmund at Xmas.

I also hope hope I can get bockwirst and curry wurst from the stalls that used to be dotted around. The old good places for chicken were the schnell imbis.

Looks as though the drinking culture has changed but I will enjoy investigating that!

Hello there - I was stationed in West Riding Barracks from 1967 - 1971 (You must have been leaving as I arrived) Anyway, I was in 25 Bty, 19th Field Regiment - what about you?

Did you get to see the barracks on your visit? Has it been bull-dozed now? (I've heard that Napier Barracks no longer exists.)

I'd appreciate any news you may have....

Hi,

I was in 31 Field Ambulance. Did 19 Fd Reg replace 14 Fd Reg RA? There was also quite a big Artillery Reg nearby as well -- by an airfield, I recall.
Had many a good fooball match against both. Normally lost!

Sadly-- all of West Riding Barracks has been demolished. Even that pace down on the corner of the main road going out of the barracks where we could get the papers and a fry up-- what was it called? Something like a Toc-H. They have built a sort of road system in that area leading down to Horde etc. The area where the barracks were has quite a few hotels and businesses being built.

That sports filed area across the main road from the barracks is still there but is all over grown now and awaiting development.
The old 'cabbage patch' where miloitary houses were is still there but the houses have been modernised in a German style and look really nice.

Trams still run along that main drag. In fact, the whole transport system in and around Dortmund is magnificent. I also could not believe how colourful Dortmund looked-- my main memories were of a drab, grey place recovering from the war years.

That big Steel works over by Horde has gone. They were in the process of turning it into a sort of massive type of lake and marina etc with lovely houses over-looking it. What a complete change to what it was like.

Dortmind City centre has not really changed that much-- of course, more pedestrianised but still very much recogniseable. The facade of the Hauptbahnhof is still the same but inside totally different!

I would certainly recommend Dortmund for a visit to anyone , especially ex-squaddies who had been stationed there. Stay at the British B and B. very near Dortmund Usseln and the airport and close to great transport links.

Any more questions-- then just ask!

Pete

Thanks for the update - even though it was a bit sad.... but that's prgress I suppose?

I don't know who we replaced at west riding barracks - I was only a young sprog at the time. I was there four years - this must have been the peak of royal artillery in the dortmund garrison. The irony is that an artist on a project I'm working on at the moment was the daughter of the RSM at napier barracks at the same time I was there.... but she was only 3or4 at the time. She's gorgeous now though... to think we were less than a mile away from eachother over 40 years ago! Isn't it a small world?

After reading your correspondence, I note that we also shared many of the local hostelries.... I was befriended by the tenants, (the Heide family) at the little pub over the road from the big steel factory in Horde, and I used to spend many weekends with them. They had a daughter called Petra and I named one of my daughters after her - she was very cute.

Many thanks for the update, once again.

Yes- is such a small world!

I recall that pub just opposite the steel works. Been in there a few times.
The one me and my mates used I tried to find- it was in Dortmund Horde. Many a good night out there. Especially one New Years Eve party when I managed to get some thunderflashes to set off. The locals thought WW111 had started!

I did find the pub but it is now an internet cafe. I was so gutted when I found it to see it had changed. I actually walked there from where West Riding Barracks were.

Napier Barracks I remember well. Was there a 25 Heavy Artillery Reg there?

You may be right on that one, but I couldn't say for sure.... And I forgot to say that I don't know the name of the cafe/or whatever it was on the corner of the main dual carriage-way and the road to West Riding Barracks.... I seem to remember that it as a 'Church Army' establishment, or something sililar, but I could easily be wrong. I do remember that they were well worth a visit for a sticky bun or something else of that ilk. Happy memories.... Send me a direct email and I'll send you a few snaps of my time in Dortmund and of the charactors who were around at the time. My email address is bobgatherer@hotmail.com. Look forward to hearing from you.