Tennstopet is a restaurant and a legend. It was founded in 1867 as a billiard parlour by the sergeant Sven Gustaf Högberg at Fredsgatan 9 in the Rosenbad quarter. At the time, so-called "schweizeriers" were fashionable, and the restaurant was soon renamed to Rosenbads Schweizeri, even though no confectionery items were served.
In 1891, the schweizeri was sold to the engraver and engineer Bror Axel Santesson, a member of the Santesson family known for their tin casting. He decorated the establishment with many beautiful tin pieces, earning it the nickname "Tennstopet." (literally, the tin stopper). Its proximity to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, located across the street, attracted many artists and art students, making Tennstopet their regular haunt.
In 1893, Stockholm's city savings bank purchased the plot and the building where the schweizeri was situated with plans to demolish it and construct a modern bank palace. Consequently, the restaurant moved in 1895 to Vattugatan 8 (then called Stora Vattugatan, in the Hägern quarter), in the Klarakvarteren district, right in the midst of an environment increasingly characterised by newspaper offices and bohemian culture. The name Tennstopet became official. Clubs were formed among journalists and artists at Tennstopet. One of them, "Klubben Axlarne," published its own humorous newspaper called "Tennstopet Ett Mittnadsblad." The paper was printed in 50 copies and first came out in 1898.
Santesson's successor, O. Johansson, attempted to rename Tennstopet to "Restaurang och Café Monopol" (as Hotel Monopol was in the same building). However, the name change was unsuccessful, and the restaurant went bankrupt. The new owner, Thorsten Videlius, purchased the bankruptcy estate for 22,000 kronor in 1904 and reverted to the old name, adding "Källaren" (The Cellar).
Tennstopet, along with the café Tysta Mari, became a gathering place for journalists from the newspaper offices in the surrounding Klarakvarteren district. Artists now mingled with newspaper people, writers, and poets. Among the regulars were Slas, Beppe Wolgers, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Pär Rådström, Lars Forssell, Vilhelm Moberg, and Fritiof Nilsson Piraten when he visited Moberg in Stockholm. Ivar Harrie, the first editor-in-chief of Expressen, had his own table. The regulars even had their own order, known as the "Commander of Tennstopet."
Thorsten Videlius passed away in 1920, and his widow sold the restaurant to one of the partners in the wine merchant firm Grönstedt & Co. The next owner was Gunnar Wiberg, who took over Tennstopet in 1953. He was a trained sommelier, including in France, and further developed the establishment. As before, surströmming (fermented herring) was a culinary highlight of the year, and traditional Swedish dishes held a prominent place on the menu. He decorated the restaurant's premises in the style of English pubs, and introduced darts, a popular pub game.
With the extensive transformation of the city, Tennstopet was once again forced out of its premises in 1965. However, Gunnar Wiberg didn't give up. The entire interior was packed up and stored until they found a new location in Vasastan on the present-day Dalagatan 50 that same year. There, they recreated the old Tennstopet as faithfully as possible. For example, they successfully moved the old restaurant sign that read "Källaren Tennstopet - Restaurant," with a tin stopper on top. In the dining room, you can still find the old semi-circular sign from the main entrance on Fredsgatan that reads "Schweizeri Tennstopet." Wiberg sold Tennstopet in 1971 to Bror Björud, whose daughter Monica and son-in-law Gunnar Ekdahl have been running the place ever since.
IB agent Donald Forsberg revealed in Expressen in 2009 that he used to sit and surveil Arne Lemberg, Jan Guillou, and other journalists at Tennstopet. Soviet spies allegedly attempted to recruit new agents there. Guillou was indeed approached by the KGB in 1967, but it was not here at the restaurant but at the Soviet embassy.
