The legendary pub Au Daringman on the Vlaamsesteenweg, often known as ‘Chez Martine’, is closing soon, landlady Martine told Brussels media outlet BRUZZ recently. ‘My customers are so sad when I tell them the news. ‘Where can we go now?’ they ask me.’
On Sunday 22 December, the last pints will be pulled at Au Daringman in Brussels. For Martine Peeters it’s her last days as the pub’s landlady. ‘I only took the decision last Thursday,’ she explains. ‘That’s why it's very sudden news for many of the customers’. ‘My rental agreement expires on 31 December. I could have continued under different conditions, but I wasn’t minded to do that. I don't want to end in frustration, but when the going is good.’
The premises of the popular pub have been sold to Ternat-based drinks company HLS, owned by the Haelterman brewing family. ‘The property was sold in September, but for a long time I was not told the identity of the buyer. When I heard it was going to be HLS, I wanted to negotiate with them, but I only got to see the contract 2 months later. I didn't agree with the terms.’
‘I was going to have to order all my drinks from them,’ Martine explains. ‘Even my coffee, which I normally buy around the corner, the wine I have been ordering from a small shop in the vicinity for 24 years. My juices I get from a farmer in Flanders.... I didn’t want to stay open only to close down the business in frustration in two years’ time.’
This is why Martine is now taking the hard decision to close now. ‘I have been hurting a lot since the decision. It's not nice news for my customers either. They are so sad when I tell them. ‘Where can we go?’ they ask me.’
Rolled into the job
Martine has run the iconic Brussels watering hole for just under a quarter of a century. Au Daringman has become a household name in Brussels. But becoming a pub landlady was never the woman’s big dream. ‘I rolled into this business,’ she laughs. ‘I once worked in a women’s shelter, but I noticed that I was losing my idealism. I did not want to become an embittered social worker, so I started looking for something else.’
‘Somebody told me that the café La Puce on the Vossenplein in the Marollen District was looking for a new landlord. ‘You always tell people how a café should be run’ my friends said, but I would say things like that but never with the intention of trying it myself. Still, I went to have a look and a week later I stood behind the bar.’
‘I started on a Wednesday, but it took until the following Saturday to learn how to pull a pint properly. That I learned from a good friend of mine. I ‘played landlady’ all summer of 1990. My friends from Ghent swung by and sat out on the terrace all day. I simply loved that. After that summer people kept coming, to such an extent that I started thinking ‘Help, how do I keep this up?’ I had to take on extra staff.’
Martine took La Puce under her wing for 9 years, ‘which was a really cool time,’ she recalls. ‘But the hotel next door wanted to expand and they were then able to buy the property. So La Puce had to close. Then I helped a friend out in a snack bar for a while and worked at the Beursschouwburg theatre for a while.’ But the landlady bug kept on itching. ‘I was told that a working-class café in the Dansaert district was up for grabs. I made a second start from scratch.’
Regulars worried about becoming an arty-farty pub
The café Martine took over was a very different place from today's atmospheric meeting place. ‘It was a café frequented by football supporters. The previous manager was in a boxing club, Daring Molenbeek, linked to what is now the RWDM football club. The old regulars didn't always appreciate my arrival. They asked, ‘You're not going to turn this into one of those arty-farty pubs, are you?’
‘It was a tavern. It didn't smell very nice. The Daringman was frequented by an older, regular crowd, who would sometimes tell racist jokes at the bar. I quickly made it clear that would not be appreciated. That clientele then left quietly. I didn't have to chuck them out myself.’
For more than a quarter of a century, the café on the Vlaamsesteenweg was a staple. It attracted a lot of cool people. Martine could count singer Arno and stage director and actor Jan Decorte among her regular customers. ‘Arno was a friend and a very nice customer. I don't want to say more,’ the landlady discreetly says.
Crowdfunding through the pandemic
Besides good times, Martine also negotiated turbulent waters. Like the entire Brussels catering sector, the café had to close during the lockdowns. Income fell away but rent still had to be paid. Au Daringman's fans showed their solidarity. ‘A friend of mine told me to start a crowdfunding initiative during the second lockdown. I got so much support from the customers.’
Martine ended up raising 12,000 euros selling tote bags. That paid six months' rent.
‘The first day I was allowed to reopen was pretty emotional. It was a Monday. That’s when I am normally closed, but I opened anyway to celebrate! By 5 o'clock I closed again, it was getting too wild.’
So what was the secret that made the café such a success? ‘Everything I would say,’ chimes the proud publican. ‘The nice clientele and the friendly and competent staff that made customers return. The pub itself may not be of great value, but it's still a tidy little spot.’
What will Martine do next? ‘I don't know yet, but I already have a few ideas. For instance, I can see myself volunteering one day as a child psychologist. I might still be able to make a difference for children. Another option is to help out at the service flats where my mother lives, where there are fewer and fewer organised activities due to a lack of staff. After all elderly people deserve a pleasant old age.’
‘I’m not ruling out helping out at a cool bar if somebody could use some help, pulling pints once a week, but we'll see.’
What next for Au Daringman?
But what is to become of Au Daringman now, without Martine? ‘I don't know what plans HLS has for the Daringman. It is tied to the brewery, so it will probably remain a pub. Still, it won't be the same. Customers complain about that too. Everything is chains nowadays, which is a shame, isn't it?’
If it is up to the Brussels government, HLS will not be allowed to change much of the interior. In February, they launched a procedure to have the café's interior recognised as a protected monument, although the Royal Commission on Landscapes and Monuments did not agree with that categorisation. ‘Too cheap an interior,’ read their advice. Whether the recognition will go ahead is unclear.
Is Martine planning anything special to say goodbye? ‘I am just going to stay open for the next few weeks, but the last 3 days I might make it a private event. Otherwise the place will be full of tourists and the regulars won't get a chance. They prefer to stay away during this busy period anyway, during the Winter Wonders festival. But on the last day, I will definitely do something special. What exactly, I have not yet decided. I'm still thinking.’