Green light for Brussels park guinguettes as popular summer bars open for business

Following a series of administrative delays, the capital’s seasonal guinguettes are finally opening to the public, Brussels Environment announced on Wednesday.

The first of the Barc family of guinguettes now welcoming visitors to their terrasses are the Henri café in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Maurice in Cinquantenaire Park, Emile in Forest’s Duden Park and Fabiola in King Baudouin Park in Jette.

They will be followed swiftly by the opening of André in Laeken Park on 9 May and Vincent in Bon Pasteur Park in Evere on 10 May. All the cafes are open daily from 11.00 to 22.00.

The Brussels agency said the Barc operator would be organising various activities at the bars in collaboration with residents and neighbourhood associations. They include creative and DIY workshops, plant swaps, intimate acoustic concerts, dance and yoga classes, board games and pétanque tournaments.

New activities for 2025 include bicycle repair stations to encourage cycling in the city and repair cafés to promote social cohesion.

On the catering front, visitors can tuck into healthy and organic dishes, added Brussels Environment. “The Barc operator holds a Good Food toque and is offering as many organic products as possible that are sourced locally and are delicious and sustainable.”

The Urbike cooperative is responsible for transporting food supplies to the open-air cafes via cargo bikes and trailers. Barc also strives to produce as little waste as possible by favouring reusable products and adopting recycling practices, it pointed out.

While the name guinguette originally refers to a popular riverside cabaret restaurant that developed at the end of the 19th century in the Paris region, the Brussels cafes have each been given a name connected to the park in which they are located.

For example, Fabiola in King Baudouin Park honours Belgium’s former Queen and André in Laeken Park refers to the engineer and architect who designed and built the Atomium, namely André Waterkeyn and André Polak.

Brussels’ first pop-up guinguette in Duden Park opened as part of the Park Design 2016 project. The prototype proved so popular, other summer bars followed in 2017 and they are now a popular fixture in the capital’s green spaces.  

Photos: Fabiola guinguette in Baudouin Park; Henri guinguette in Georges Henri Park ©Brussels Environment