The quest to give Ypres back its own city brewery led, thanks to the Ypres city council, to a unique and historic place. De Kazematten van het Houten Paard (the casemates of the wooden horse) were built around 1680 following the plans of Vauban, the great military engineer of Louis XIV. They are part of the ramparts that surround the city of Ypres. Over the centuries these basements were used to store ammunition and military equipment, and were used as sleeping quarters and shelter for the troops who defended Ypres during the many sieges. The British troop during the First World War used the casemates as ‘mess’ for the officers. Their command post and field hospital were also based in ‘Hotel de Remparts’, as the kazematten were ironically called. It was also the home of the famous British trench gazette ‘The Wipers Times’.