If the village loses its pub, it loses its soul. With that in mind, Dave Mol took a seat behind the counter of café De Molle in Hollandscheveld at the age of 18. Grandpa and grandma Dicky and Dinie, both seasoned pub crawlers, decided to close the tap after almost 50 years.
And yes, yesterday the youngest member of the Mol family blew out 65 candles in front of the Hollandscheveld café. The anniversary was celebrated as a village pub should: by getting together. And so the regulars trickle in one by one. For a snack and a drink, of course.
Had Dave decided differently five years ago, Café De Molle would probably have been defunct. But innkeeper Dave would rather do nothing than this. “Grandpa and grandma were crazy about it, and when you’re in your 70s, you can do that once in a while. I was in doubt: should I do it or not? Because with cafes it all becomes less so. My thought was: I’ll try it, and otherwise we will stop.”
Five years, hundreds of liters of beer and countless evenings later, Dave concludes: “As far as I’m concerned, it turned out well.”
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