Valthermond has a trusted name back after five years of toil. Harm Greven and his family have made a dream come true by restoring the famous The Old Smuggler Inn. Under a slightly abbreviated name: ‘Old Smuggler’.
Old times will not relive there. “The approach is not that we go on until the late hours. It’s all about having fun with each other,” says Greven. “The youth in the village now have to rely on Musselkanaal, Stadskanaal, Emmen or even Groningen. Soon they will be able to go back to Valthermond on their bicycles to drink a beer and play pool. It should really become a meeting point, as it used to be.” .”
In 2017 the brothers Jeffrey, Rodney and Wesley Greven bought the property from Willie Ploeger. Father Harm nods approvingly: “It’s an investment for themselves.” A family project with three generations, because Grandpa Albert, according to himself, handled a lot of bricks during construction. “Hopefully there will soon be a fourth generation Greven, who then want to continue this”, Harm looks ahead.
Due to the disappearance of The Old Smuggler Inn, there was – until now – no catering building in the village. At the time of the takeover, the building was also quite run-down. A rotten tooth, if you will. “I wanted to fix that,” says Greven, who is an accountant by birth, but will soon be tapping the beers himself. “This part of Valthermond has so much to offer. In my opinion, a grand café fits very well with that.”
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