The island of Norderney & Hotel Friese
Then and now
The history of the Hotel Friese and the Gramberg family
On Norderney for 150 years
The Gramberg family has been on Norderney for 150 years and has been in the catering business for just as long. It all started with the ‘Giftbude’ café and the ‘Kaiserhof’ hotel. These were joined by the ‘Wilhelmshöhe’ café and the ‘Bremer Häuser’.
The businesses ran well until 1928 and 1932 respectively. After that, the Gramberg family took their leave of Norderney and left the island for several years. The family spent these years in Nastätten and Nassau, where they continued to work in the catering trade.
In 1957, they returned to Norderney and Gertrud and Carl Helmuth Gramberg founded the restaurant and pub ‘Friesenschänke’ in Heinrichstraße. A few years later, the Gramberg family and Hotel Friese crossed paths.
In 1965, the hotel, which was still called the ‘Phönix’ at the time, was acquired by the Gramberg family and renamed the Hotel Friese. Since then, the hotel has been remodelled and extended several times so that it could meet the requirements of our guests and continue to do so in the future.
In 1992 the Hotel Friese-up Anner Siet was added, which was extended again in 2010.
Hotel Friese and Friese-up AnnerSiet are currently run by Maria and Tjark Remmer-Gramberg.
Tjark Remmer is now the fifth generation of the Grambergs to work in the catering industry.
The history of the island of Norderney
The island of Norderney was originally settled by fishermen who saw the island as a good location for their profession. The first signs of tourism appeared in 1797, when Norderney was named the first seaside resort on the North Sea coast. However, development was slow at first as the fishermen's houses were not suitable for tourists.
During the Continental Blockade against Great Britain at the beginning of the 19th century, smuggling briefly flourished on Norderney. Tea, tobacco and sugar in particular were very popular goods, which were not always easy to get hold of legally at that time.
Tourism has been in full swing on Norderney since 1860 at the latest and Norderney has been a popular holiday destination for Germans ever since. Today, Norderney is a holiday destination with a wide range of offers for all age groups and accordingly, Norderney was visited by over 400,000 guests in 2007. If you are interested in our history or that of Norderney, please do not hesitate to contact us or our staff.
