Rocking around the clock in Hamburg (From The Bolton News)

Rocking around the clock in Hamburg

4:00pm Saturday 21st November 2009

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IT’S very early on a Sunday morning, and the Fish Auction Hall in the north German city of Hamburg is rocking to the rafters as the band belts out crowd pleasers by Johnny Cash and The Kinks.

To get their money’s worth, shoppers either get up very early — or go straight from all-night sessions in Reeperbahn clubs.

The market has been around since 1703, and still offers amazing bargains on fresh fish and produce.

music buffs gather by 5am, when the music starts, and they order buffet breakfasts as live bands play jazz, country, rock or pop music until midday.

The revival of the fish market and auction hall in the St Pauli region of Hamburg, one of its most lively, thriving and colourful areas, is symbolic of the transformation of this city, the second largest in Germany.

Hamburg is at the centre of growing trade with China and Eastern Europe, and its new HafenCity project brings hundreds of jobs to a huge site in the historic Speicherstadt (warehouse) district. HafenCity Hamburg will increase the city centre area by 40 per cent by 2025.

As well as housing, shops and offices, its crowning glory will be the Hamburg Philharmonic Hall.

The newest attraction in the St Pauli region is the Beatlemania Museum.

John Lennon once said: “I was born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg.”

Music promoters FKP Scorpio spent years getting Beatlemania exactly right, making it an interactive journey through one of the most exciting decades of modern times.

In July 1960, the group arrived by ship from Liverpool for a contract at the Indra Club, Grosse Freiheit, near the Reeperbahn in St Pauli. In the next three years, they played hundreds of gigs in rowdy venues like the Kaiserkeller, Top Ten and Star Club.

On the Reeperbahn, the museum is not far from the entrance to Grosse Freiheit, where there is another new shrine to the band, the Beatles-Platz — a granite record-shaped plaza with life-size metal statues of the group.

We found Beatlemania easily — poking out from above the trees was a huge Yellow Submarine.

Inside, five themed floors begin with the band’s arrival in Hamburg and recount the full story until Let It Be, their 12th and final album in the break-up year of 1970.

Each room is interactive. The Sgt Pepper room had a huge replica of the album’s gatefold sleeve which opens up like the original LP, and an even bigger copy of the cover art where you stand in one of the rows to get your photograph taken.

The Yellow Submarine room, meanwhile, includes periscopes, portholes and submarine sounds!

The Beatlemania rooms are full of 1960s merchandise ranging from dolls, chewing gum, clothes, bubble bath, aftershave, wigs, crockery, bedding and even stockings.

Today, Hamburg still has a thriving music scene and promotes as many new bands as it did in the 1960s.

The city centre has several shopping areas, including Stadthausbrucke, on the waterfront near the City Hall, and the Jungfernstieg promenade with internationally-known names.

There’s also the Schanzen and Karolinenviertel districts. Both are young up-and-coming areas. The shops were quirky and there were bargains to be found.

Hamburg is a beautiful city to walk around, too. My favourite followed the Inner Alster river, and I stood on Lombard Bridge to look at City Hall, surrounded by classic 19th-century buildings with medieval spires towering over them.

We ended our visit with a harbour tour and a trip to the new International Maritime Museum, celebrating the history of boats from 500BC to modern cruise ships.

Most of the collection belongs to Hamburg-born Peter Tamm, boss of publishing company Axel Springer. whose collection features more than 37,000 models — including rare ships made from bone and pure gold —- 5,000 paintings, maps and drawings, uniforms from all over the world, dinner sets and even lighthouse beacons!

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