Although it seems as if the whole of Esbeek is already on edge on Wednesday evening around nine o’clock, an overcrowded parking lot reveals otherwise. There is still plenty of life going on at the village hall. Precisely the goal of the village cooperative, which bought the café and adjacent rooms almost twenty years ago without municipal funds. “This is the beating heart of Esbeek,” says one of the members of the cycling club that meets there every Wednesday evening.
As soon as you enter, you do not immediately expect that dozens of associations and clubs from Esbeek come to the Schuttershof every week. At first glance it is a café where local regulars enjoy a cold drink and where the bartender puts bowls of chips on the table. Yet it is of vital importance for the twelve hundred people in the village. “This place is more than a café, but also the social meeting place,” says Corné Smolders, board member of Coöperatie Esbeek.
He has been involved in the process from the start and proudly explains how ‘his’ village achieved it all. “We had a real estate agent here, a lawyer and someone with a paint shop. We already had all that knowledge in-house,” he laughs.
The cooperative bought the café and hall complex and it is now a place for the entire village. “Everyone from Esbeek has been here,” says Corné. “The youth come here for a beer on Friday and Saturday and the oldest residents come for a bite to eat on Tuesday. That makes it special.”
The Schuttershof came up for sale in 2006, which meant that Esbeek’s last café was in danger of disappearing. Several people from the community worked hard to preserve the place. A cooperative was founded.
At the time, there was a meter at the entrance to Esbeek that showed how much money had already been collected. The counter ended at 350,000 euros. In doing so, the community saved the café, but more importantly, the social meeting place of the village.
The village hall is open from half past ten in the morning until the late hours. The café does not run on volunteers, it employs a manager, a cook and bar staff. Whatever money remains flows back to the foundation.
“You can easily leave your coat here for three weeks.”
The village hall is open seven days a week, just for a snack or a drink, but also regularly as a practice room or meeting room. This also applies to the theater association, where 26-year-old Martje van Roovert can express herself. “If this were not there, it would be very difficult to find a place for us,” she says. “The atmosphere here is very warm and friendly. You can leave your coat hanging for three weeks and you know it won’t be taken.”
The cycling club is sitting at a large round table just next to the fireplace, resting after a circuit of about forty kilometers. “It doesn’t matter how far we go, because we always end up here,” says one of the members, after which he takes a sip of his well-deserved beer. Another adds: “This place connects Esbeek. The village would not be possible without this place.”
“We have already received many villages here where the same problems exist.”
On the other side of the café, always at the same high table with stools, the tennis club is the talk of the town. “It’s not really about anything,” they laugh. “When I get home, I don’t remember what it was about, but it’s always fun.” They also see the importance of the village hall. “If you take this away, it will be a dead end here. Then it will no longer be a close-knit community.”
The cooperative is an example for many other communities. “We have already received many villages here where the same problems exist,” says Corné. “Also from the region, for example Riel, Gilze and Elshout. They want to know how we have achieved this here as a cooperative.”
While a new round is being prepared at eleven o’clock, the wind band also enters the village hall. They practiced in one of the rooms behind the café. “We actually come from Hilvarenbeek, but we really feel at home here,” says Joep Roberts. “This place is the salvation of the village. If this disappears, the village will collapse.”
