At Café De Gouden Leeuw in Meulebeke (West Flanders) four friends have broken the Belgian record for propping up the bar. They remained seated on their bar stools at a table for 55 hours. They were allowed five minutes per hour to stretch their legs, freshen up or go to the loo. To keep the gentlemen awake and alert several performances were staged in the pub and games were also played. The previous record, also held by a group from West Flanders, stood at 53 hours.
On Friday morning, Bart Vanderstraeten (51), the landlady’s partner, Franky Vandekerckhove (55), Steven Verbrugghe (50) and Filip Soenens (65) sat down on bar stools at Café De Gouden Leeuw, with no intention of getting up again. Their goal was to break the Belgian record for propping up the bar hanging. 55 hours later, they had succeeded.
Hardly any beer was drunk
All in all, the record attempt went very smoothly. ‘We only had one moment when it got really tough,’ says Bart, ‘At around 4 a.m. on Sunday morning. The four of us were playing cards, but we were struggling to keep it up. We couldn't even hold a proper conversation. But around 7 a.m., we were fine again. We drank coffee and used some of our saved time to freshen up.’
Remarkably enough, hardly any beer was drunk during the entire record attempt. ‘We deliberately avoided alcohol, because otherwise we probably wouldn't have been able to keep going. We mainly stuck to water and occasionally coke or coffee. Only during the last hour did we have a beer, when it was clear that we would make it to the 55 hours, to celebrate a little.’
Putting café culture in the spotlight
The foursome say they could have stayed seated for another hour or two to set an even more impressive new record. ‘But that wasn't really what we were after,’ Bart explains. ‘We wanted to have a party and put Belgian pub culture in the spotlight. And now that we have set a new record, we believe we have succeeded. If someone breaks it in three years or so, or even next week, I don't really mind.’
Monday, Bart has the day off to recover from his record feat, but that doesn't mean he'll be in bed until noon. ‘I think I'll fall asleep very easily tonight, but I suspect I'll be awake again by 7 a.m. I'm not a late sleeper.’