From 1779 onwards the inn, now granted Electoral privilege, became the focus for a cattle market and annual fair – similar to the one in Keferloh. Some time around 1800, the “Waldwirtschaft Hesselohe”, as it was now known, erected a dance hall which became a meeting place for the local young people.
In 1852 Großhesselohe became connected to the railway network. Business at the Waldwirtshaus boomed. On good days it served up to 10,000 guests. On Whitsunday 1900, a beer-serving record of 123 hectolitres was set – and it remains unbroken to this day.
Even now little has changed in the outward appearance of this romantic beer oasis in South Munich and it has lost none of its popularity. In 1982 innkeeper Sepp Krätz took over the leasehold of the Waldwirtschaft. With much love and great dedication he has since restored the Waldwirtschaft to its former glory.
In 1995 the WaWi hit the national headlines with its “beer garden revolution”: residents wanted to push through an earlier curfew, which led to Bavaria’s prime minister Edmund Stoiber, among others, staging a counterdemonstration – the outcome was a legislative amendment in the State Parliament.