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This rather ornate shield is the sign of the locksmiths’ guild in Wrocław, dating back to something around 1750. It’s a hefty wooden piece which is divided neatly into compartments, each one proudly displaying the tools of the trade, namely keys, locks, hinges and other hardware that you’d hope a locksmith of the eighteenth century would know what to do with.

Guilds were serious business in Wrocław (or Breslau as it was then) and they weren’t just trade associations, but social and political powerhouses. Signs like this were part branding, part authority, telling the world that this was a guild with standards and that they weren’t going to tolerate any sub-optimal locksmithing in their city. It’s functional and decorative, a former marker of belonging,

Wrocław, or Breslau as it then was, has the dubious distinction of being declared a Festung (fortress city) by the Nazis in 1944, meaning that it was to be defended at any cost. “Any cost” in this context turned out to mean the near destruction of the city and the needless deaths of tens of thousands, but those were details that didn’t particularly bother the Reich as long as orders were followed.

The concept of Fortress Breslau was meant to hold back the Red Army and protect the eastern flank of Germany, though in reality it was mostly about Hitler’s refusal to admit the war was already lost. The city was ringed with defences, civilians were pressed into service and resistance was supposed to be fanatical. The siege lasted from February until May 1945, outlasting even the Battle of Berlin. By the time the Soviets finally took it, Breslau was a ruin, its medieval heart and baroque splendours reduced to rubble.

The human toll was staggering with around 170,000 civilians trapped, food shortages, forced evacuations in the depths of winter and an estimated 40,000 dead during the siege. The city held out because orders said it had to, not because there was any realistic hope of changing the war’s outcome. It’s one of those decadent exercises in futility that twentieth-century Europe specialised in.

The capitulation itself came on 6 May 1945 when General Hermann Niehoff, the German commander, finally accepted the inevitable and surrendered the city to the Soviets. Accounts describe Niehoff as weary rather than defiant, the fight having gone on long past the point of sanity. It was also the end of the city’s German identity, it became part of Poland just months later. Niehoff himself lived until 1980, it must have been a strange career to look back on.

This is the same location now where the surrender took place. Everything has changed, I can’t imagine anyone in 1939 could have predicted what would happen to this city.

I had somehow managed to miss that the excellent Polish brewery Browar Stu Mostów is actually from Wrocław and they have a couple of venues in the city.

It’s a bright and vibrant interior. There was a friendly welcome and the option to sit inside or outside, but I felt I’d done enough al fresco drinking for the week, so opted for inside.

They call this outlet a bistro, so there’s a focus on the food and beer. The online reviews are generally very positive and I rather liked, in the response to an angry drunk customer, that the venue commented on the Sobriety Education Act which is a rather lovely name for the Polish drinking laws.

I ordered a tasting board to try four different beers from the brewery, or, in one case from another brewery. From left to right:

(i) Fruited Tango from Browar Stu Mostów. This was thick, fruity, lightly soured and packed with mango. An exceptional beer.

(ii) Green Diamonds from Other Half Brewing which is an incredible brewery that I went to when I was in New York. The beer was hoppy, dank, fluffy, creamy and really quite decadent, another delight.

(iii) Cake Drop from Browar Stu Mostów. This is one of the best beers I’ve had this year, it tasted of carrot cake and was lightly soured and tasted of liquid gold. A punchy flavour with so much fruit that it must be healthy.

(iv) Blueberry Shake from Browar Stu Mostów. Just as I was thinking the Cake Drop would be the best of the evening, this was the icing on the carrot cake, packed with blueberries, thick, luscious mouthfeel and one of the best beers I’ve had.

In short, I liked the beer here.

The food was pretty decent, this is the pastrami brisket sandwich with fries. The thinner pieces of pastrami were a delight, the larger pieces were a bit fatty for my liking, but there was a depth of flavour to the whole arrangement and the chips were particularly decent.

Anyway, this was an absolute delight and the beer quality was exceptional, which was the main point of my visit. The atmosphere was welcoming, the venue was clean, the service was polite and the beer was lovely. Next time I’m in the city, I’ll try and head for the brewery’s main taproom which is just a little way out of the city centre.