The Raadhuisplein in Emmen is increasingly becoming a catering square. Since the delivery in 2015, things have been sprouting like mushrooms. Soon that will be added.
The Raadhuisplein was completed just under seven years ago. A new part of Emmen that could count on the approval of many residents. The greenery, the benches, the playground equipment and the water features made it a wonderful place for Emmenaren to stroll or have fun.
Only one problem: sitting on a terrace was almost impossible. With the exception of the lounge café Lounge 13, which has since disappeared, there was no catering industry at all around the square. Entrepreneurs were also aware of this and things shot up at breakneck speed. The Atlas Theater and Café Plein first opened their doors in 2016.
Character (now Thijs & Co), Limbo, Tranquilo, De Beren and ByZoo soon followed. The east wall of the square once formed the closed border with the De Weiert shopping center. Today it offers a more cheerful appearance with rows of tables, chairs and awnings, in short, conviviality.
Three plans for new catering establishments are now in the pipeline. The most advanced are the plans for party café De Fuif, which will replace lingerie store Boobs & Bottoms.
Entrepreneurs Jeffrey Mol and Ruben Neehoff, owners of cocktail bar Tranquilo and nightclub Limbo, hope to open this month or next. The Party would actually have started two years ago, if corona and the associated lockdowns had not thrown a spanner in the works. The renovation is now in full swing and the après-ski character is already quite visible on the outside through the wood against the outer facade.
A little further on was the only Drenthe branch of restaurant La Place. Parent company Jumbo closed its doors in 2020 due to the corona crisis and they never opened again. There are now a number of containers in front of the door and heavy work is being done.
Jun Hu, who runs Wereldrestaurant Puur on Westerstraat with his brother Anton, settles here for new catering establishments. An opening date has not yet been announced. The case itself is now well underway.
The plan that is still in its infancy is that for the ground floor of the former tax office. It is the intention that catering will also be established here. According to project developer Jorgen Kruit of real estate company and property owner Saxum & Firmum, serious talks are underway with a party. Kruit does not want to say who that is for the time being. According to him, it is an ‘innovative concept’ and it is in any case not the intention that there will be night catering.
Last year Saxum & Firmum bought the property dating from 1964 with the intention of transforming the existing office spaces into 88 apartments and studios. The space on the ground floor, good for 600 square meters, was previously filled with the ANWB store and interior design store Linolux.