150 years of Uhlenkott

Ute Uhlenkott and her sister Eva Rethmann have taken over a house with a long tradition

150 years of the Hotel zur Post! Ute Uhlenkott and her sister Eva Rethmann thought long and hard about whether they should celebrate the big anniversary. "Last year was so turbulent and we didn't really feel like celebrating, but then we thought to ourselves: if we don't do it now, we probably won't do it at all. And mom also wanted a real party. So off we went!"

No sooner said than done: on October 14, we celebrated in style, with lots of memories of old times, an exhibition of old photos, hotel brochures and newspaper clippings. And, above all, in public. "The Hotel zur Post has always been an open house," says Ute Uhlenkott. "And that's exactly how we want it to stay."

Not in someone else's hands

After the sudden death of their mother "Mene", the two sisters initially considered renting out the restaurant and hotel to a tenant. "But then we would have been guests in our own house and we didn't want that," says Ute Uhlenkott. "We wet our diapers here, learned to walk, drank our first beer. We simply lived here. What's more, this is our parents' life's work and we couldn't bring ourselves to hand it over to someone else."

It was a twist of fate that the two sisters struck up a conversation with Kerstin Flöck at their mother's six-week funeral. "The chemistry between the three of us was right straight away," remember Ute Uhlenkott and Eva Rethmann. "We work hand in hand, Kerstin as Managing Director in the day-to-day business and us around it. After turbulent weeks and months, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel."

When their mother "Mene" and father Wolfgang were still alive, they were unable to persuade their daughters to take over the restaurant and hotel. Both daughters have their own jobs, Eva also lives in Hamburg. "We imagine mom and dad now high-fiving each other up there in heaven. True to the motto: what we didn't achieve in our lifetime is happening now," says Ute Uhlenkott with a smile. "A beautiful thought!"

1873 first Uhlenkott

The name Uhlenkott can be traced back to 1873 at the Hotel zur Post. Bernhard Heinrich Uhlenkott was entered in the land register as the owner. He was followed by his eldest son Bernhard Heinrich Franz Uhlenkott, then Clemens Uhlenkott (the grandfather of Ute Uhlenkott and Eva Rethmann), then his father Wolfgang Uhlenkott and his wife Mene and now their two daughters. "However, the pub has been around for a long time. Its history can be traced back to 1790," says Ute Uhlenkott, who, together with her sister, has sifted through many old documents, newspaper clippings and photos. The old newspaper cuttings included an article from the Westfälische Nachrichten newspaper on the 100th birthday of the Uhlenkott family at the Hotel zur Post. At the time, Wolfgang Uhlenkott calculated that around 540,000 chops had been eaten at the Hotel zur Post over the 100 years.

The half-timbered building in which the restaurant is located is already very old; the hotel with its 50 beds was added in 1963. "Before that, there were a few guest rooms," says Ute Uhlenkott. "In the place where the hotel stands today, there used to be the "Schwemme" - the hub of LH. This is where the wages of the people of Lüdinghausen were paid and where they partied like crazy.

A house with tradition

The Hotel zur Post is a hotel with a long tradition. The "Reichstag" society - founded in 1892 - has its origins here. "The regulars' table has been meeting in the same room for 131 years," say Ute Uhlenkott and Eva Rethmann. "Tradition was also important to our mother. She herself was almost an institution. The Hotel zur Post - that was everything. Her hobby, her free time, her life!" Nadine Wenge

Hotel zur Post: Hotel, restaurant, bowling alley. The restaurant is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 5 pm. Parties, conferences, funeral cafés by arrangement. www.hotel-zur-post-lh.de