At weekends the pub is open for a beer or something from the snack bar. But more importantly: almost all village events are organized in their pub. “We have the summer fair, the winter fair, the colorful evening, Oktoberfest, annual meetings, theater performances, the billiards club and the darts group here. We are more of a social association building than hard catering entrepreneurs.”
It is hard work, and financially it was sometimes difficult. Although the pub is well attended – 20 people on Friday evening and at least 400 people at a village festival, until five years ago Ger had to do odd jobs in construction. “The bookkeepers didn’t believe we could live on it.” Now that the mortgage has been paid off and they both receive state pension, things are getting easier. But says Riet, ‘you get other things in return’. “People help each other here. When my mother died, Ger had all kinds of people on the phone within an hour who wanted to help.”
The secret? “Do everything yourself and don’t make major changes.” The pub still looks exactly the same as it did 40 years ago. Beer and coffee are on the menu, but no cappuccino. “I’m not going to start on that,” says Riet.