Discover Benelux | Bruges | Best Places to Visit
A late-night hang-out TEXT: ELLA PUT | PHOTOS: COMPTOIR DES ARTS
For Bram Thienpondt and his wife Desireé, the desire of a late-night pub in Bruges was a dream that became a reality. It resulted in Comptoir Des Arts; a meeting point for artists, a stage for Belgium’s most famous jam sessions and the best place to spend your late nights in Bruges. It all started when Bram and Desirée were both working as waiters and could not find a place to go for a drink and a latenight chat after their work shifts finished: “Late at night, everywhere we went the music was so loud and there was no personal contact between the bar’s staff and their customers.” To create a place more suited to the laid-back night owls, the couple founded Comptoir Des Arts, an art café in the centre of Bruges where the music varies between blues and soul with a bit of jazz. 44 | Issue 25 | January 2016
The mellow music allows customers to have a good heart-to-heart until the early morning hours. Thienpondt: “It’s important to remember that music sets the mood and the mood sets the music, so the music is always very present but never too loud.” At first, the café’s name might sound confusing. Comptoir means ‘bar’ or ‘counter’ in French, but in the local dialect of Bruges it also refers to the beating heart of a café or restaurant: “It’s a place where the regular visitors gather, locals meet tourists and where friendships grow and relationships blossom. We’re happy to have created an atmosphere like that,” Thienpondt says. Furthermore, the bar is also an art café, which resulted in the second part of the name, ‘des arts’. Thienpondt: “Comptoir Des Arts is a meeting point for artists of
all trades. Here, they can exchange ideas and get inspired. It’s combining art in its most versatile way.” On the bar’s stage, they host gig nights on a regular basis. Furthermore, famous Belgian comedians hold their try-outs in the café. Comptoir Des Arts is best known for their monthly blues jam evenings, with 30 to 50 artists performing on a single night, making it one of the biggest blues jam sessions in the country. “We regard service and personal contact very highly. We don’t have any staff; it’s my wife Désirée and me. How many cafés have their proprietors serving drinks behind the bar these days? We are open until three o’clock every night. Because late at night the talks are a little bit more loose and interesting,” Thienpondt jokingly says. www.comptoirdesarts.be