We are a beer country, cafes are the pride of our nation, and yet the locks are about 600 of Flemish bars) for the past few years, the doors to the public. What exactly is the problem? We will dive into the numbers in our quest to be the Best Cafe in Flanders. “Maybe we have more in our smartphone, put it down, and just go out for a drink. And it’s not only good for the industry.”

VOTE HERE. Crown your favorite watering hole as the Best Café of the in Flanders

8.984. So many cafes to count, Flanders in the year 2019 at the latest. What’s more: nearly one-fourth of our hospitality industry consisting of restaurants and bars. A substantial and impressive number, so you’d think. But in reality, it is the amount of bars is still only a shadow of what it once had been. “In the mid-90’s, there were in Flanders, according to Statbel, more than 18,000 of the many cafés. A quarter of a century later, there remains only the half of it”, says Matthias De Caluwe, the CEO of the Hospitality industry in Flanders, belgium.

Source: Graydon

blow in Flanders

Every self-respecting town has one bar, but still, we are becoming more and more in front of a closed door. If we are all of the Flemish provinces by adding, over a period of four years from now, we will come out with a loss of just short of 1200 bars. In the Eastern part of Flanders, the streets have been in place since 2015, in a staggering 347 green bars have disappeared. In West-Flanders, belgium and Antwerp, doekten with more than 250 owners have in their bar.

Source: Graydon/Operation-Guidea.

, But especially in the last year, it was hit firmly to be felt. In the second quarter of 2018, there were 597 cafes, and more than that, by 2019 at the latest. Thing is, all of a sudden in the wrong?

SEE ALSO. Cafébazen hits from the confessions: “They were working on the toilet for a while, and their partners have a good time in the café were” (+)

you can Quickly into the late-night shop

“It is, indeed, indisputably, a remarkable decline. There are a variety of reasons,” said De Caluwe. “As a society, are constantly changing, and that our hospitality industry is no different. It was, for example, you often are simply in a bar to hear how the week in your circle of friends or to meet new people. Today it expired, and some contacts are more frequent by means of social media. Maybe we need a better balance in our smartphones, often without the benefit of a cup of coffee, a cola or a beer. That is, it is not only good for our business, but also for economic and social cohesion. There is today a need to work with.”

times have changed, the brands they have in the Hospitality industry in Flanders, and that the set of classic bars to be a big challenge. “The smoking ban, and the fact that people now have a changed view on the use of alcohol seems to be less people at the bars and pull. Young people are drinking more at home before going out in a ‘pre-drink’. They get the alcohol, the late-night shop or withdraw from it later to the party. That, too, has an impact on the customers of the cafés in the area.”

The clichébeeld of the pubs, it is no longer a reality. Flanders bars are distinguished by their uniqueness and creativity.

in the streets, in search of a village pub looks very different places than it was a few years ago. “The boundaries are blurring between the different types of restaurants. We are seeing more and more that the concept of the ‘pub’ is shifting to a restaurant. There are coffee shops, there has been a trend towards more temporary, pop-uphoreca,” explains the CEO. And that is the creativity and open-mindedness is a boon for the owners, but it is a painful blow to the numbers of the average, < / i> In ’t Hoekske, and The State .

in Flanders ‘ however, special

However, according to De Caluwe’s still very, very proud to be in our Flemish bars, and declining numbers or not. “In the country we are seeing more and more of the chains, also, as well as cafes. Here we can enjoy a very original and individualistic concepts, and on the café-owners who are the heart and soul of a business from the ground stomping it. That is, we can only marvel at.”

The numbers are not so drastic as they may seem. “It contains also the shifts in the bars to the restaurants. They are, therefore, not necessarily be stopped, but it has evolved in order to adapt to changing market conditions.”

SEE ALSO. Less and less bars, but if we get our national pride back on top

anyway, one of our favorite bars will be able to have a boost to use it. And what better place then for them to call to the bar in Flanders? The voice is still up to the 29th of september, by The local Newspaper in order to have a winner to crown.

see also:

More about the bar CHART. In these churches, it was the same coffee shop each and every year in the ‘Best Bar’, but the four owners will be the more exciting of The most memorable moments in a coffee shop? “Been drinking, and yes… waking up with a unicorn on my chest,” Yet is more convenient to cafe to go-the best apps for a big night out, take THE TEST. Do you know what is the glass in which beer is best?