The Brussels region’s environment agency Bruxelles Environnement/Leefmilieu Brussel is seeking bids from anyone interesting in running summer bars in seven of the city’s parks for the period from the beginning of summer 2020 to the end of summer 2023.
The parks concerned are Cinquantenaire, Georges Henri, Roi Baudouin, La Cambre abbey, Laeken, Rouge Cloitre and Bon Pasteur in Evere. Four bars have been running since 2017, with two more – Rouge Cloitre and Laeken – were added this year. A fifth, in Parc Duden, will be replaced by Bon Pasteur.
The agency has a full set of documents available in French and in Dutch outlining the terms and conditions of the contract, including detailed instructions on the equipment and furniture to be used.
Only one licensee is being sought to run all seven summer bars together. The rent for all seven is set at €12,500 a month.
“The concept has reached maturity,” the agency’s Renaud Tondeur told Le Soir. “We’re looking for the new concession holder to adapt the summer bars to their surroundings.”
The seven bars are owned by Bruxelles Environnement, and are not to be confused with a number of similar establishments that exist in other Brussels parks, including the Laiterie in Parc Josaphat, which are run by the private sector. A particularity of the bars in question is the possibility for local people to arrange the hosting of events, such as club parties or local get-togethers.
“We want our summer bars to be popular and accessible for the majority of people in Brussels,” Tondeur said. Applicants for the concession must show an intention to work to minimise refuse as well as to employ “any other initiative that contributes to the environmentally friendly exploitation of the concession.”
In addition, candidates for the contract must be in possession of the agency’s Good Food label, awarded free to food and drink establishments run in a sustainable and environmentally aware way.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
