Nightclub De Marktkantine in West held a manifestation on the square in front of the door last night. The club’s lease ends on July 1, and the Marktkantine will then have to make way for the Marktkwartier new-build project. The club wants to be able to give its visitors a dignified farewell, and hopes for a 170-day delay.
Loyal visitors and employees of the nightclub gathered on Saturday to party in a protest. With banners, placards and speeches they hoped to emphasize the value of the club. One visitor sums it all up: “Fun, nightlife, music, techno house, and electronic dance music.”
“Loyalty is already gone, The School is already gone, all those nightclubs are going to be destroyed.” Another visitor got emotional thinking about the demolition: “This just has to last, and the fun shouldn’t be taken away from us. They have plenty of room to build. They can’t get their hands on this.”
“We want to close the Marktkantine in a good way”
The club wants an extension of the lease until December, about 170 days. According to owner Eelko Anceaux, that extra time is really necessary: ’We want to close the Marktkantine in a good way and that is very difficult now that we have just reopened after a hundred weeks of corona closure. We really need those 170 days.”
Project Market Quarter
The Marktkantine has to make way for the construction of a new residential area: the Marktkwartier. 1,700 new homes will be built by project developers VolkerWessels Vastgoed and Ballast Nedam Development. The club had known since its opening in 2014 that the existence of the Marktkantine on Jan van Galenstraat number 8 was coming to an end.
According to the project developers, the lease will not be extended: “We will start an investigation into the presence of asbestos in July. If this shows that asbestos remediation is necessary, this may take longer. If we postpone the investigation, the start may come. of work later this year.”
Future
Anceaux has not yet lost hope of a postponement: “We think that the housing that will eventually come here will not get in the way. And because the project developers still have to apply for permits and sell the homes, we want to until December.”
But if the end does come in July, according to the owner, it will not be the end of the Marktkantine: “We are looking at several new locations in the city.” A visitor makes a suggestion: “I think Waterkant would be a suitable new place.”
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