The Beer Hunter

by Alistair Blackett

The early morning Eurostars are normally quite empty, especially if you are on a Brussels train in January! I was on a Continental version of the traditional Mensan pub crawl with my friend Martin, which had started on a Saturday at Waterloo, very early. The tea and snacks are very pricey, but another cup of tea was necessary to try and get our brains out of second gear! The Eurostar trains are comfortable and travel at high speed on the continent; the track in Britain needs to be upgraded for high speed operation. We had booked to Lille and intended rebooking to Oostende at Lille Flandres station.

I had first been to LiIle several years previously, before the Eurostar was built and was surprised to discover what a nice city it was. The square in front of Lille Flandres station is beautiful. It is also where many of the best bars, chip shops and budget hotels are. The Eurostar does not call at Lille Flandres, but at a new and rather ugly station a few hundred yards away, which is called Lille Europe.

The walk to the main station square was bitterly cold, but we were heading for one of our favourite bars. Les Brasseurs is a very special bar; it brews its own beer (four different types) and also serves good food. The decor is marvellous with gleaming brass everywhere. The toilets are a little strange - being lit by ultraviolet light, which I believe is to deter drug abuse. I don't know if drugs are a major problem in Lille. I have seen no evidence of drug abuse in my various visits, but then I haven't been looking for any!

Close to Les Brasseurs is an excellent chip restaurant where we both sat down to gargantuan portions of omelette and chips. I always try to talk in French as this does help with the locals. My French is not wonderful but I make the effort. Martin speaks virtually no French (though his German is rather better than mine) so I have to do almost all of the talking.

After lunch, there were a couple more bars that required a visit including the "Au Bureau" which is part of a large chain and specialises in international beers. I had my first Hoegarden, a particular favourite Belgian beer of mine. Across the square, we had a Trois Mont, a classic French beer. These set us up for our onward train journey to Oostende.

Oostende is a holiday resort as well as being a large commercial and naval port. It is a place that I have visited many times and am very fond of. It also has trains. The Belgian coastal tramway, which is one of the longest in the world, runs through the middle of town. Sadly this time we didn't manage to have a ride on them.

 We stayed at The Hotel Marion which includes one of the town's two premier beer cafes, the excellent "Bottletje" (Little Bottle) bar. We had one or two beers in the bar where we are well known, passing the time of day with Jean Pierre our host and one or two locals and visitors before crossing the Street to the "T'Ostens Bierhuus". This is Oostende's other speciality beer bar, which is run by an Englishman, Tim Smith. Tim had recently moved his bar from an adjacent block.

The bar caters mainly for locals rather than visiting British tourists (although he welcomes sensible drinkers from anywhere) and is all the more agreeable for that. We chatted to one or two of Tim's locals until quite late before going exploring. We walked down the sea front, which was bitterly cold at that time of night before trying a couple of other local bars which were quiet and friendly. A little Flemish goes a long way in Oostende but, if you don't know the language at all, English is widely understood and generally better received than French. We returned to our hotel for a night-cap and I think that we actually got to bed sometime after 2 am!

The next morning we missed breakfast, which is almost unheard of! Despite not feeling at our best we decided that some exploration was appropriate and, after much perusing of maps and train timetables, we decided to go to Poperinge, which saw heavy fighting in World War I but now is better known for being in the heart of Belgium's hop growing country. We had to change at Kortrijk to get to Poperinge and decided to stop off there on our way back. Poperinge itself was the terminus of the railway line, although we found evidence that, at one time, the track had continued well beyond the station and we believe may well have continued into France. The town centre was very picturesque. It was also very cold! We had a couple of beers and an excellent meal in the Oud Vlaenderen cafe before heading back to Kortrijk.

Kortrijk also saw heavy fighting in both World Wars, but is now a smart, prosperous town better known for being a centre of the textile industry. We looked in at the cafe "Engel" for a couple of beer to set us up for the ride back to Oostende. The "Engel" is noted for its Art Deco interior as well as its food. Belgian railways are very efficient and soon we were back in Oostende.

After a wash and brush up we are out for a few more beers this time finishing at a more civilised 1 am! The next morning, we actually managed to make breakfast, which was of a traditional continental style. However you can have as much as you want, so we had a lot! On the journey home, we stopped off for a meal and a few beers in Lille before catching the Eurostar home, arriving at Waterloo reasonably early before returning to Huntingdon.


First published in VISA issue 31 (winter 1998).