Frankfurt: Traditional gas station closes – after more than 60 years
The site of a petrol station in Frankfurt is to be sold after ten six. Heddernheimer and Römerstädter are “shocked”.
Frankfurt – Four generations of the Zügel family ran the petrol station in Römerstadt. This coming Saturday (January 15th, 2022) it will close Michael Zügel (36), head of the free beer dispenser with cult status since 2017, forever. “The entire site has been sold,” he says. Not more. Who does he not want to tell. The contract had been agreed not to disclose. What is certain, however, is that the area also includes the huge garage courtyard with round spaces on two floors, which extends to Severusstrasse. The house is also part of the bundle.
Meanwhile, the people of Heddernheim and Römerstadt are “shocked” and “sad” on Facebook. It says, for example: “The year 2022 does not start well for Heddernheim. After the decision to close the Sparkasse branch in Heddernheimer Landstrasse in February 2022, our Zügel gas station will now also close its doors on January 15, 2022 forever. “With that,” two supporting pillars of the Heddernheim community system are bare history “.
Gas station in Frankfurt closes: The district is shocked
Many Heddernheim residents associate memories with the petrol station and its operators: “At the Zügel petrol station, grandfathers, fathers, sons and grandchildren have already refueled or stocked up on small delicacies,” it says on Facebook. Today’s 50-year-olds remember how they drove up on the luggage rack of their father’s moped when their dad had to refuel. They later refueled there themselves. You feel connected to the operators. On Facebook it continues: “After 70 years it is over. Michael Zügel, who runs the gas station in the fourth generation, is stunned and extremely sad that he would have liked to continue running the gas station.” However, he does not want to speak in public about the reasons for the closure. There is too much gossip anyway, he says.
Not only do the people of Heddernheim find it difficult and reluctant to say goodbye to this essential part of their district, they also feel abandoned by the city and are angry: “If there had been a will to avoid the petrol station and with it a piece of tradition A way would certainly have been found to preserve the district. Here everything is sacrificed for apartments, “says a Facebook writer.
Frankfurt: Operation of the gas station can no longer be maintained
In the corresponding group it is claimed that the requirements imposed by the City of Frankfurt’s environmental agency are “so high that the petrol station can no longer be operated at the same time”. That doesn’t even affect the gas station itself, but the garages in the backyard. The soil beneath them has to be removed over a large area, as pollutants that would have accumulated over the years are disposed of there, the Facebook group speculates.
For the Zügel family, the expected high costs were not acceptable and the property could not be divided because there would then be no prospective buyers – for a property with a gas station. The only option for the family is to close the gas station in order to be able to sell the property completely, it is said.
Traditional petrol station in Frankfurt: a piece of memory
On Facebook, users emphasize how sad they think it is that a piece of memory has been lost again. They wish the Zügel family good luck for the future and say: “The Heddemers will miss you.”
The story began – according to the family saga – in the early 1950s with Valentin Zügel, who bought the property. It soon passed into the possession of Egon Zügel, who set up the petrol station operation and handed it over to his son Peter in 1983. The trained car mechanic, who grew up in Stockborn (Praunheim) and had a weakness for motor boats, diving and South Africa, passed the company on to his son Michael in 2017. Presumably, many customers and companions will come by until the closure on Saturday to drive through the car wash once more, to say goodbye, to indulge in memories. Or fill up with fuel. One last time. Then the reins turn off the tap. Forever. (Michelle Spillner)
The gastronomy in Frankfurt is also shaken by closings. The traditional Hausener Dorfkrug in Frankfurt had to close in December.