Lille Klingbjerg 9

In Haderslev, as in other towns and cities, there were many illicit bars around and about. As they were inns that were hidden out of the way – without anyone’s knowledge and in secret – there are no actual records of where they were located. However, there is said to have been an illicit bar at Lille Klingbjerg 9. The photograph shows a “peep-hole”, which turned up during renovation work on the building in 1974. The peep-hole is inside the house, between the parlour and the hallway. A peep-hole or spy-hole was used to check whether it was the police who were knocking on the door.

Why is the peep-hole in a door inside the house and not in the front door? It was very normal in the past for many houses to have a hallway just inside the front door, with rooms leading off it on either side. There could, for example, be a small workshop in one room where customers could come during the day. From the hallway, there was a door into the parlour, where the peep-hole is located in this house, and this was where the illicit bar was run. As the customers had to be able enter, the front door was not locked. It was not normal for the door to be locked in the past either, as it was the job of the night watchmen to check that there was peace and order, and they needed easy access to the houses.

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