Pumpehuset

The crane that remains above the bar

In Kransalen, the large room on the first floor, the original crane from the pump station remains visible above the bar. It is not an ornament: it summarizes where Pumpehuset comes from. The building was part of Copenhagen's first water supply. The first stone was laid on May 16, 1856; the steam pumps started running on July 1, 1859, and worked until 1951. Architect Niels Sigfred Nebelong designed the yellow brick pavilions. The complex is protected as industrial heritage and the room occupies the former machine house, on Studiestræde, between Axeltorv and H. C. Andersens Boulevard.

The successor to Saltlageret

In September 1987, the station was converted into a concert hall and took over from Saltlageret, which was demolished. The Uraniafonden donated three million kroner to condition the space. For more than two decades, the venue hosted international rock, metal, and pop: Rammstein in 1997, Linkin Park in 2001, or John Mayer in 2003 passed through these walls. On June 15, 2010, the project went bankrupt and the dates were canceled. In January 2011, a reopening with a different profile was announced; the doors opened again on September 28, 2011.

Subcultures, drum and bass, and club electronics

Since that second life, the house has been defined by urban subcultures: death metal, drum and bass, underground hip hop, and, at the same time, more established names. It declares more than 300 concerts a year and works with small promoters on about 40% of the dates. The electronic dancefloor has hosted the live act of Noisia, psytrance parties, the EBM of Front 242, and trance celebrations like Origin of Trance. It is not a single-label club: it is a concert and party house where heavy bass coexists with rock concerts.

Two black rooms and a summer garden

The interior is divided into two floors. Kransalen admits 600 standing people under the wooden roof; Sort Sal, on the ground floor, 400, a black and more intimate room. In the courtyard, Byhaven opens from late April to late September, Wednesday to Saturday from 15:00, with free admission most nights and a capacity of 700 standing. Above the entrance, there is a smoking terrace with a bar, heated in winter. There is a staff cloakroom and mobile lockers. The protected building could not be adapted for wheelchairs. In Kransalen, the current PA is TT Audio with L-Acoustics monitors; in Sort Sal, RCF. The interior programming follows the lineup: usual doors at 20:00 and bars open as long as there is an audience.