Summer bars in parks in Brussels will also be an attraction in the summer of 2025, whether there be a new government or not, Brussels environment minister Alain Maron (Francophone green/Ecolo) has confirmed. He explains that the Brussels Environment agency has already set a budget for summer bars in the capital and candidates have already been asked to come forward.
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Summer bars back in Brussels (even though there’s no new government!)
Colin Clapson
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In late January, several Francophone media outlets reported that Brussels Environment's summer bars, better known as 'guinguettes', were under threat this year because many months after the elections there is still no new Brussels regional government to run the capital. In principle, Brussels’ caretaker administration cannot launch any new policies.
But minister Maron believes the problem has been sorted. ‘There was indeed some discussion within the outgoing government about whether a decision about the summer bars could be taken as ‘ongoing business’, but we decided it wasn’t an issue,’ a spokesman for Mr Maron said. ‘The budget for the summer bars had already been set and it remains exactly the same as last year’.
Open in May
With a little delay, the Brussels Environment agency launched a call for new candidates to present their projects. All applications must be submitted by 26 March at the latest.
‘In the course of April, Brussels Environment will then select, choose and licence the new ‘guinguettes’. We hope they can open in the course of May,’ the spokesman concluded.
That is indeed later than usual, as last year the first summer bars opened in Brussels' parks as early as mid-April. Last year bars appeared in the Jubel Park (Maurice), Laken Park (André), the King Boudewijn Park in Jette (Fabiola), the Duden Park in Vorst (Emile), the Georges Henri Park in Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe (Henri) and the Good Shepherd Park in Evere (Vincent).