Pimpernel Reunion 2026

In the organizer's words:

Pimpernel Reunion 2026

For decades, pubs, clubs and discos were our "safe spaces" and meeting places.

One of the most legendary places in the 1970s and 1980s was the Pimpernel in Cologne - the 3-storey disco on Rudolfplatz, open from Tuesday to Sunday from 5 pm until the early morning - with after-hours included.

Over the years, it was not only a place for thousands of visitors to party to disco sounds, it was also a place where many experienced the gay subculture for the first time, came out, met the man for life and stood up for the gay revolution - because for years, the Pimpernel was also the "clubhouse" of Schwulen Aktion Köln (SAK), the Cologne activist group that provided many of the impulses that made Cologne the gay capital of the republic in the 1990s.

This is thanks to the landlord of the Pimpernel, Jochen Saurenbach, himself an activist, who acted with virtuosity and composure behind the bar and made all this possible.

Together with him and all those who visited the Pimpernel back then and all those who would like to experience the feeling of this incredible time (again), we will be celebrating the Pimpernel Reunion 2026 on Saturday, June 20. We will keep the disco lights shining and look forward to the amazing time we were able to experience at the Pimpernel.

In this couch talk, we speak to Jochen Saurenbach, SAK activists and visitors to the Pimpernel.

Ex-Pimpernel DJ Addi will get us in the mood for the memories with original gay disco sounds from the 1970s.