Catering entrepreneurs in Breda are shocked by the municipality’s new regulation for terrace policy. The proposal states that guests must sit on the terrace and are no longer allowed to stand with a drink in their hand. That seems like a small detail, but according to pub owners Ad Baelemans and Sem van Mook, it has enormous consequences for their business operations and for the atmosphere in the city. “We don’t understand what is unsafe about standing next to a table,” says Van Mook. “This touches the soul of Breda.”
According to the municipality, it is all about safety. Drinking while standing would pose risks in the city center. Sitting on a patio chair or on a stool at a standing table is therefore mandatory. But councilor Arnoud van Vliet does not yet want to explain exactly what these risks are. “Because the opinion for this new policy is still ongoing,” a spokesperson said.
But the bomb has already exploded in Breda. “We are completely in the dark,” says pub owner Sem van Mook of De Heeren van Breda on the Grote Markt. “If you say something is unsafe, explain what is unsafe about it. Now it just seems like an arbitrary decision.”
Ad Baelemans from Catch 22, an innkeeper for 35 years, finds the argument downright strange. “In all those years I have seen more people fall off their stools than I have seen them fall around a standing table. And yet sitting would be safer? I don’t understand that.”
“I’m a bartender, not a police officer.”
The entrepreneurs fear that the proposed new policy will force them to correct their guests. “Then I will have to tell people again, just like in the corona time: sit down or leave,” says Baelemans. “But I’m a bartender, not a police officer.”
Van Mook adds: “In Breda everything revolves around hospitality. People come to talk together, to laugh, to linger for a while. It is a social meeting place. The mandatory restriction to seating only detracts from this unique social role. If someone stops at a table to chat, I will have to send them away. That goes against everything we stand for.”
In addition to the loss of fun, entrepreneurs are very concerned about the financial impact. Many catering establishments, especially the smaller brown cafés, have limited space and simply cannot accommodate extra tables and chairs on the terrace. “Fewer seats mean fewer guests and therefore less turnover,” Van Mook continues. “That is immediately noticeable in the wallet. I fear that it will lead to the disappearance of the traditional brown pub from the street scene.”
“This measure is fatal for smaller businesses,” Baelemans thinks. “What if someone just comes to smoke or chat? Do I have to risk fines? Then doing business becomes a punishment.”
“Breda is not Den Bosch or Tilburg.”
According to the catering entrepreneurs, the municipality has looked at the terrace policy Den Bosch (standing prohibited) and Tilburg (standing permitted). That also goes wrong with the Breda catering industry. “Breda is its own city with its own character,” says Van Mook. “If we all get the same rules, it will become one big uniformity.”
“Let the councilor first do something about all those scooters, cars and fat bikes speeding through the street here,” concludes Ad Baelemans of the Catch 22 café on Vismarktstraat. That’s really dangerous. Just throw this plan in the trash. At least then we can do what we do best again: let people enjoy themselves, sitting or standing.”
The municipality of Breda did not want to respond.
Royal Horeca Netherlands department Breda
KHN Breda believes that the municipality’s new terrace rules are being introduced too quickly and are not tailored to the daily practice of catering entrepreneurs. The organization wants rules that are workable and based on trust, not distrust.
The ban on standing on terraces, the restrictions on barriers and plants and the strict noise requirements in particular have come under criticism. According to KHN, many measures are unnecessary and poorly substantiated.
“Why are you going to fix something if it is not broken?” says board member Peter van Belle. The catering industry endorses the importance of clear rules, but emphasizes that these should not affect hospitality. KHN asks the municipality for more consultation, including about the consequences for rural areas, before the council adopts the rules.