One morning they arrived: large aluminium cubes with a narrow slot and a thick lock. Floor by floor, there are now waste paper bins for confidential business documents. Harbingers of big changes.

The WM Group is moving – and with it Börsen-Zeitung. At the beginning of October, it moves its headquarters from Frankfurt's railway station district to Sandweg in Nordend. But isn't that actually Bornheim– or Ostend? Or at least eastern Nordend?

Die-hard Frankfurters like to get caught up in discussions about which district – and therefore which of the diverse neighbourhood cultures in the metropolis on the Main – an address belongs to. Coloured lines on official city maps would be far too formalistic an answer to meet with unanimous acceptance.

Brief moments of irritation – aside from the enormous organisational and logistical tasks of a company relocation – characterised the mood in the offices on Düsseldorfer Straße last week, as staff left the old premises. A mixture of nostalgic farewell, curious anticipation, and the attempt to minimise distractions in the unchanged and unabated day-to-day business.

Small interruptions in the routine workflow continuum: the clock stopped in the conference room. But was it still worth changing the battery? The office plant bazaar on the way to the underground car park provided a reminder of the jungle some colleagues had grown around their desks. The cupboard at the end of the corridor, which nobody has opened for years, revealed long-forgotten mementos of colleagues, projects or events. Plenty of material for team-building anecdotes. And even in the last few days, many boxes were still unpacked?

The departure from the ageing buildings in the Bahnhof district is of course not just a big topic within the company itself. It is also a concern for many cafés and restaurants, which established themselves as fixtures in the daily lives of many employees over the years. The future publishing location is actually not that far away. But it's probably too far for the existing regular cafés. In future, it will be necessary to explore all the new options, for example on Berger Straße. Farewells and new beginnings.

It will not be long before the busy routine returns – in the new domicile. At everyday working life. And by then, everyone will agree on whether it is the east end – or the east of the north end.