About us

The “Helvti” is a delightful place steeped in tradition and history . During the 1970s and the heady 1980s when Zurich did not exactly feature among the top nightlife spots in Europe, the “Helvti” bar was already a shining star in the city’s otherwise rather sedate firmament. The bar was a rendezvous point before and after the big demonstrations; it was here that musicians, artists, students and journalists from the nearby Tages-Anzeiger newspaper gathered and the “Helvti” was the birthplace of the myth of “burning Zurich”, the long hot summer of discontent of 1980. When nearly all the other watering holes had closed down for the night, patrons were still welcome to take a seat at the marble bar of the “Helvti” and philosophise to their hearts’ content into the early hours of the morning. It was here that the counter-cultural revolution began and this area was the conspiratorial refuge for illegal bars and occupied artists’ houses which gave the city the lively cultural and night life it enjoys today.

Originally located directly at the Stauffacher tram stop, the “Helvti” bar became even more autonomous in the early 1980s when it was transferred one hundred meters towards the city centre at Stauffacherquai 1 on account of a new building project. The ground-floor bar and the first-floor restaurant evolved into the landmarks of the old and the new Zurich – sedate yet innovative, bourgeois yet progressive. This combination was reflected in its much diversified patronage, including people from all walks of life.

Today the “Helvti” is a meeting place for this characteristic blend of the bohemian and the bourgeoisie: gourmet diners at its tables and patrons putting the world right over a drink into the small hours at the bar.