‘I’ll throw the key in the canal soon’
These last few days as pub owner, Ron van Drecht takes over. Last night it was already half past six, and starting night it will also be a long time later. There are a lot of customers who say goodbye. “Of course it’s a madhouse.”
Van Drecht stands for the last time behind the bar of his iconic tasting room De Druif. He is retiring, ‘physical-technically’ he is tired, the young guard can take over. “Soon I will close and then I will throw the key in the canal. It’s been nice.”
Brown
Café De Druif on Rapenburgerplein is not just any café, it is a step in history, and not only because of the beautiful interior and the walls that could use a lick of paint – as befits a classic brown pub. Café De Druif is involved in a popular party game among brown pub enthusiasts and amateur historians (usually a combination of both): what is the oldest surviving pub in Amsterdam? As a rule, café Karpershoek (1606) comes out as the winner, followed by café Chris (1624) and café Brandon (1626). De Druif is peated on 1631.
But is that right? It was the seafarer Piet Hein, the bad one, who threw huge parties in café De Druif after returning from yet another raid, and that was all long before his death in 1629.
Nice story
How does Van Drecht see this himself? “It’s all lore. I really don’t remember what I wrote on October 25 last year. Never mind what happened 500 years ago.”
What he does know: he has researched the City Archives and around 1600 people were already drinking in this place. Michiel de Ruijter himself has also described Piet Hein’s parties here. They both lived around the corner.
Van Drecht: “I consider myself the oldest, then Karpershoek, and then Chris. But do you know what it is? It doesn’t give a damn, it’s just a fun story. We don’t play music in De Druif and suddenly someone says: hey, oldest pub. Then the stories come and that’s what it’s all about.”
Alcoholics den
Van Drecht worked in the hospitality industry for almost fifty years, including in café Reijnders and De Tap. Ten years ago he took over De Druif. He turned it from an alcoholic’s den into a bar where young people came again, and German beer became popular.
Then came corona. Last year, a number of young regulars started a crowdfunding campaign, which raised no less than 16,000 euros. It did not help. Van Drecht thinks it was nice.
The near-pensioner: “Corona has opened my eyes. We had to close and that gave a lot of certainty, but retroactively it was great. I only slept at first. When we reopened I got a tia. My doctor said, ‘Be happy. Because of that lockdown you were still reasonably rested.’”
Right moment
Then came the generated energy price, and customers had less to talk about. “When I could get a whole prize, I thought: why should I continue to work until my biggest? And then I fall down and my daughter says, “Hey Dad, thanks.” I don’t want to have to do anything anymore. I haven’t been to another cafe or restaurant in twelve years. I hear everyone talk about television shows I’ve never seen. Now I get this chance. I really stop at the right time, not a day can be added.”
The case is taken on by four men in their forties from the restaurant business. “They have promised to keep everything the same, but I don’t believe that. Those men have their own ideas.”