Do you like to drink a beer at the bar and do you have a thing for shipping? Then the ship’s bar of restaurant d’Oude Clipper in Egmond aan Zee might be something for you! The owner of the restaurant is retiring and the furniture is being auctioned. The showpiece is the ship’s bar that has been in the restaurant since 1974. You have to have some space for it, because the colossus is ten meters long and five meters wide.
It is with a heavy heart that owner Arno Duijf says goodbye to his restaurant after sixteen years. He will enjoy his retirement at the age of 67. The iconic restaurant has been up for sale for two years. “During corona time there was little enthusiasm, no one wanted to take over. Apartments are now being built in the building. It is ‘unfortunate but unfortunately’, but not having to anymore is also very nice.”
The entire inventory of the restaurant is now up for auction. Chairs, crockery, lamps and even the menu board are covered with auction numbers. Interested parties could browse through the items during a viewing day. The bar in the shape of a ship is the most eye-catching lot. “It’s really unique,” says auctioneer Lois Karel. “There is already a lot of interest in it, so it will be sold anyway. How much it should yield is still a mystery to me.”
Fish not included
The buyer has to disassemble the bar himself, and the fish that swim around the ship are not included: “They get a new home with an acquaintance of mine,” says Duijf with a laugh, who hopes that the boat will end up in a catering business again. . “It would be nice if it was in Egmond aan Zee, but just find a building where it fits. I’m thinking more of a large canal house in Amsterdam. It would in any case become a great tourist attraction.”
The online auction of the inventory of d’Oude Clipper in Egmond aan Zee is currently open for bids. The auction closes at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, May 17, 2022. Arno Duijf is in any case no longer at the helm of his ship’s bar and that is difficult for him: “I’m really going to miss it, fifty years of catering is not nothing, but free time is also nice.”
Curious about the ship’s bar? Watch the video below