Cafés are disappearing. ‘Just pouring a few beers won’t cut it anymore’

Restaurants? Oudenbosch is well equipped, according to the members of billiards club De Paardenstal. But the village hardly has any cafes anymore, and the number is also dwindling in the nearby area. The billiards club, consisting of Joke Jongenelen (70 years old), Hans Langenberg (66), Lucienne Verschuren (58) and Kees Faijaars (67), is sitting on a rainy afternoon in the café De Paardenstal of the same name. They have just played their last game and are chatting over a beer.

Despite the name, the billiards club started in another café, but that closed and so the members had to move. It is a fate that has befallen many billiard players. Sometimes they have to look for another location – with billiard table and all. They are welcome in De Paardenstal, four billiard tables testify to this. The question is: for how long?

The Netherlands has fewer and fewer cafés, according to figures from the Chamber of Commerce. This also applies to the West Brabant municipality of Halderberge (31,362 inhabitants), which includes Oudenbosch. Last year, 8 of the 22 cafes here closed their doors.

Prices are skyrocketing. And then people prefer to stay at home

It is a development that Brabant regional chairman Rik Hüsken of the Royal Horeca Netherlands sees in several places, he says on the phone. “Companies are emerging in the larger cities. But in the smaller municipalities and villages, you see something disappearing.” The reasons vary: some catering establishments cannot find a takeover candidate, other entrepreneurs stop because the costs became too high. The staff shortage is also a problem.

The old-fashioned cafés in particular are having a hard time, Hüsken sees. “They rely on beverage sales and, for example, do not serve food for extra income.” The regional chairman wonders whether the ‘brown café’ is still relevant today. “Times change, and so do people’s needs.” According to him, it is becoming increasingly rare for people to drink beer in one café all evening. And the younger generation is looking for hipper, contemporary concepts. Or would you rather have lunch.

Horse heads

Café De Paardenstal is a village café located slightly outside the center of Oudenbosch, not in a shopping street, but in the middle of the houses. There is a dart board, the bar in the room at the back is covered with horseshoes and wooden horse heads. Old, American music sounds softly from the speakers and two tables are occupied by other billiard players: two friends and the members of the Oudenbosch billiards club.

The billiard players say that there has been a catering facility on the site of café De Paardenstal for at least fifty years. They don’t know exactly how long. The current café has been in existence for nineteen years this month, says Kees Geldof (68), the owner together with his wife. He was a truck driver and has been working in the café since he retired. His wife will retire next month and the café will then be up for takeover. They have no employees and Kees now works more hours than when he was still driving the truck. Does he consider a takeover possible? He falls silent and then quietly says that he hopes so. “There are billiards players who say this should continue to exist.”

Geldof has noticed that the number of customers has decreased in recent years. “I don’t actually know what that is about.” In any case, the billiards clubs are an important source of income, because they had to go somewhere. “That’s how we approached it and that’s nice.”

Billiard player Jongenelen has an idea about the decline in café visitors. “Prices are skyrocketing. And then people prefer to stay at home.” She also understands it from the other side, that people have less interest in working in the catering industry. “It is hard work and you always have to work when others have time off.” She misses the cafes in Oudenbosch and the surrounding area, especially in the summer. “Then I go cycling and you actually want to go from terrace to terrace. But there are fewer and fewer of them. I miss that.”

A pub quiz every week

Whether a catering establishment is successful does not only depend on the size of the community, but also on the entrepreneur, says Hüsken. How active is it? What does he organize? And are the guests involved? “You can think of a café with a dining room. Or serve ice cream in the summer and chocolate milk in the winter. A pub quiz every week. That’s different than just tapping some beers. You won’t be able to cope with that anymore.”

In Rotterdam they dare to charge 4 euros for a beer. If you do that here, people won’t come anymore

Further on, in the center of Oudenbosch, work is underway on the square around the Basilica of Saints Agatha and Barbara, a copy of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City and the city’s biggest tourist attraction. Oudenbosch will be celebrating its 750th anniversary in 2025, so the crowd-puller should look good again.

De Kroon is nearby, at the same location where previous ‘versions’ were located (one was spelled with three o’s). Dirk Jongmans (23 years old) is the manager of the current bistro, which opened two months ago. There are few guests, there is a meeting going on for a carnival party and Jongmans’ parents come in for a drink.

Marjolein and Cees Jongmans never actually go to a café in Oudenbosch, they say. “If we want to go somewhere, we go to Bosschenhoofd or Breda,” says Marjolein.

Bosschenhoofd is a village further away. It is smaller, but according to Marjolein there is a good café there. They think that Oudenbosch lacks a place where you can easily walk in if you fancy a beer or coffee, says Cees, who has worked in the catering industry in Breda all his life. “It is much easier in a big city.”

Beer

Oudenbosch is a familiar village, say residents. Some catering entrepreneurs ‘from outside’ have not made it because people do not know them. It is one of the reasons that Dirk thinks that De Kroon has a future this time.

The previous owner had put the property up for sale again within two years due to disappointing results. “The new owners were born and raised in Oudenbosch,” says Dirk. “I have lived here most of my life. People come for the familiar faces. And we have a broad network.”

But Dirk also sees that the catering industry is having a hard time. According to him, it is extra difficult in smaller places. “In Rotterdam they dare to charge 4 euros for a beer. If you do that here, people won’t come anymore. So the margins are getting smaller. At the same time, we all have the same purchasing prices. In the long run, people will no longer be able to keep their doors open.”

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