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Photos by Cliff Lucas
This editorially independent podcast has been supported by VISITFLANDERS as part of the “Straight Talk” series of podcasts.
The Brussels beer café is an institution that has enjoyed as much acclaim as it has suffered fatigue.
This podcast is a panel discussion recorded in a Brussels beer café in front of an intimate live audience. The central question we were trying to answer was whether the Brussels beer café is a doomed relic or a durable icon.
The event was part of the Biercult Festival, a series of tastings, talks, and tours in locations across Brussels over one weekend, organised by Eoghan Walsh to celebrate the 5th birthday of his blog Brussels Beer City, and to launch his new book A History of Brussels Beer in 50 Objects. You should buy the book. It’s great.
The Brussels beer café in which we recorded this podcast was het Goudblommeke in Papier (or in French, La Fleur en Papier Doré). It’s one of the oldest cafés in Brussels.
The figureheads of Brussels’ surrealism would meet there in the mid-twentietth century: René Magritte, Louis Scutenaire, Michael Mariën and others. Later on, regular customers would include artists and writers like Jean Dubuffet, Wout Hoeboer and Hugo Claus.
The café’s founder, poet and art dealer Geert van Bruaene, created a bizarre interior using an assortment of bric-a-bric and kitsch. Now for the most part a listed building, the café is still a meeting-place for artists and writers. And now for the first time, a beer podcast.
To demonstrate how relevant a topic this is right now—whether beer cafés in Brussels are doomed relics or durable icons—the Goudblommeke café closed down a few weeks after we recorded this podcast. It’s central location in Brussels, it’s unrivalled heritage, and it’s wonderful atmosphere weren’t enough to save it. This is a real crossroads for those in hospitality. And when beautiful things die, they are gone forever.
The panel guests were top notch. Yvan De Baets of De La Senne, former café owner Jodi Lecieux, and writer, activist, and historian, Joaquín de Santos Barbosa of Bruxelles Fabriques. We talked about the romantic power, complex business, and cultural significance of the Brussels café, and what might be in store for its future.
Sit back, listen, and enjoy our Straight Talk about Brussels beer cafés.
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