Lost Nyhavn: then and now

Behind Nyhavn's coloured façades hide sugar refineries, a bicycle factory, a jazz cellar and warehouses for exotic spices. The quay has been far more than a tourist attraction. Here's a look at the Nyhavn that once was.

Lost Nyhavn — a sugar refinery, the Victrix bicycle factory, Louis Poulsen's HQ, the Cap Horn jazz cellar, spice warehouses and the world's oldest tattoo parlour. What the houses have been.

From sailors' quarter to tourist quay

For three centuries Nyhavn was a commercial harbour and a sailors' district — known for beer, sailors and prostitution, with taverns and tattoo parlours along the quay. Shipping faded with containerisation, and from the mid-1960s the Nyhavn Society worked to save and renew the area. In 1977 the canal was inaugurated as a veteran-ship and museum harbour, and in 1980 the quay — until then a car park — was pedestrianised.

Behind the façades: what the houses have been

Several of the houses have had surprising lives. Nyhavn 11 held a sugar refinery from 1754, and later the lamp maker Louis Poulsen was headquartered here from 1908 to 2005. In a backyard at Nyhavn 31, around 1.6 million "Victrix" bicycles were made from 1919. And Nyhavn 63 housed the Maritime Library from 1950 to 1988.

The warehouses and the spices

At the end of the quay, the 71 Nyhavn Hotel occupies two listed warehouses. The red one — Suhr's Warehouse — dates from 1804 and originally stored spices imported from the Far East. The buildings were converted into a hotel in 1972.

Jazz in the cellar

The cellar bar Cap Horn at Nyhavn 21 — earlier a hotel called the Hotel Løven — was a popular jazz venue in the 1950s. Papa Bue's Viking Jazz Band was founded and first played here in 1956. In the 1980s Cap Horn became Denmark's first organic restaurant, and it's still there.

The world's oldest tattoo parlour

In the basement of Nyhavn 17, tattooing has taken place since 1884, and since 1919 the place has been exclusively a tattoo shop. The name "Tattoo Ole" dates from 1947. Its customers included King Frederik IX. It's called the world's oldest still-functioning tattoo shop at its original address, and since 2010 it has had its first female owner.

For the full overview, see the history of Nyhavn — and the writer's traces in Hans Christian Andersen in Nyhavn.

What was in Nyhavn before the restaurants?

Sailors' taverns, hotels, crafts and trade — from sailmakers and compass makers to a sugar refinery, a bicycle factory and Louis Poulsen's headquarters.

When did Nyhavn become a tourist quay?

The shift came from the 1960s: the Nyhavn Society from the mid-60s, the museum harbour in 1977 and pedestrianisation in 1980.

Is the world's oldest tattoo parlour in Nyhavn?

Tattoo Ole in the basement of Nyhavn 17 is called the world's oldest still-functioning tattoo shop at its original address — tattooing has taken place there since 1884.