In ’83 I think, there were large demonstrations against nuclear weapons in the Netherlands. That led to many interesting (political) discussions in the bar.
Cor and I wanted to join at least once so we had announced that on one Saturday we would not open the bar until 6pm. However, a few regulars always played billiards on Saturday afternoons, so we gave them the key.
There were four of them including my brother. He noticed that quite a lot of people walked by and he and Robbie, who had experience as a bartender, decided to open the bar. ‘A nice surprise for Cor and Jet’, they thought.
Within 5 minutes the bar was packed. It was cold and litres of coffee and hot chocolate were ordered but also vieux –cola, red wine and lots of beer. Robbie was behind the bar with Gerrit as an assistant and my brother with, I thought Arie or Simon, in the kitchen for the chocolate and the coffee. They had no idea what the prices were so everything went for 2 guilders.
Given the cold weather and the prices, no one left but more and more came in. They made a fortune and when we came back around six, we weren’t allowed in. A completely strange man stopped us. “No one can get in” he said. “it’s really much too full” Only after a lot of insistence by an increasingly irate Cor “I AM the owner!” did we eventually manage to get in. Deep relief with the four and a big grin from us.
(Political) discussions:
As mentioned, we were definitely not a political café but politics was a big part of everyday life. There was a lot of passionate discussions about all kinds of political topics and the backgrounds were diverse. In principle, any opinion was welcome, as long as it wasn’t hurtful. During the elections, municipal or national, anyone who wanted to, could put up a poster of his or her party. For a few weeks, the window was full of them. (Only the Centrum democrats a very right wing party was missing, if I remember correctly). I have to admit, even at the time, colleague’s in the bar business frowned their foreheads. Politics and horeca were not considered best mates