Café Den Haas

Photos and words by Cliff Lucas.
Edited by Breandán Kearney.

Café Society is a photographic series which celebrates the spaces at the heart of Belgian beer culture. See more here.

Den Haas translates to “the hare”—an animal that was, and still is, abundant in the area surrounding Café Den Haas in Gooik. Since 1871, this secluded Belgian beer café, located on a dirt road which cuts through farm fields, has been owned by women and women only, all from the same family. Jan-Baptist Van Schepdael, the grandfather of current owners and sisters, Linda and Marianne Van Schepdael, was an outdoorsman and hare hunter. It wasn’t until a dwindling hare population that he changed course from hunter to preservationist. Perpendicular to the café’s entrance is a wood paneled, cabin-like structure and often-used bollebaan—a ball court where the age-old flat ball game is still played today. The curved and imperfect concrete court is lined with mismatched kitchen chairs, trophies from yesteryear, and a fireplace for cooler days. A doorbell inside its entranceway rings to the café asking for another round of beer. Until recently, an annual bollen competition was held here in the packed and smoke-filled bollebaan. To the winner as a prize—a hare.