Hotel Saxkjøbing has for more than 200 years been a gathering point for the inhabitants of the small market town of Sakskøbing – and could celebrate the 175th anniversary of the grant of royal privileged inn in 2010.
Despite several ongoing renovations, extensions and modernizations throughout the years, the core building remains intact, and today the building is listed.
Back in 1835, Hotel Saxkjøbing was awarded the premiere ‘Kgl. Priviligeret Kro ‘, (Royal Privileged Inn) which gave the hotel host the right to distill snaps, brew beer and bake bread, and since then, the hotel has followed the ups and downs of Lolland-Falster.
The hotel’s large theater was opened in 1897 and has over the years housed everything from East Prussian refugees in the last days of the war to gymnastics shows, revues and concerts with e.g Sir Henry and Eric Clapton – but long before he became famous. Gasolin have also eaten dinner in the restaurant and spent one night in the “towns hotel”.
The hotel’s side wing was originally a large horse stable for visitors, who had to visit Sakskøbing during the city’s market days. In the 1950s, the stable was converted into a dinner room, famous and notorious for both stew and fights.
In the early 1970s, when the membership of the European Community membership ensured agriculture better earnings, Hotel Saxkjøbing experienced a new golden age. In fashionable 70’s building style an expansion with two large banqueting rooms, as well as an apartment for the host couple was made in the back yard of the hotel. Now allowing a staff of 18 full-time employees and a larger number of casual workers.
However, the good times did not last. Sakskøbing was slowly depopulated during the 1980s as the industrial harbor, the sugar refinery and the shipyard were phased out. The hotel was transformed into a refugee center – selling out a large part of the original furniture from the rooms and the restaurant. Another attempt was made to run the hotel and restaurant again, when the asylum seekers became citizens in the early 1990s. But the public failed despite period furniture and initiatives like a Pool Café and a Steak House. Soon the restaurant closed, and only the hotel was kept alive.
In recent years, the negative development of the region has once again been reversed and in the summer of 2006, the current owners of the hotel threw their love into the old hotel with the desire to create a nice haven away from the everyday hassles and the stress of city life.
