The Belgium Pigeon House of Griet Van Middelem
with Les J Parkinson
When we arrived in Belgium on our latest trip Guillaume Vanneste suggested that he and his family take us to a resteraunt in Brugge where many fanciers go. A place just beyong the bottom square so it was not far to walk from the hotel where we were staying. Some walked but Guillaume suggested that a taxi came and collected certain people of a more mature age, of course I had to get in the taxi as well. It seemed a long way in the taxi so I was thinking they are having a long walk. It was when we arrived at the resteraunt that I realised the one way system sends you everywhere apart from a direct line to where you want to go, mind you those narrow back streets are better served with a one way system otherwise there would be chaos at times. Over the years we have eaten at some good places on the continent and this was as good as any and better than most because the Belgium Pigeon House is number 14 on the best resteraunts in Brugge from 575 on trip adviser so a very good rating to go with good food. When we entered I soon realised where the name came from and it is a treat for any pigeon fancier to visit but you do need to have a meal while there otherwise it will be a wasted journey. Griet took some of us through the building and there were a few steep stairs so some decided not to take on the challenge. At the top there is a room that is being made for accomodation and it is all stripped back to the original brick and woodwork. They have carefully put a skylight in and from a position in the room it has been set to view the top part of the tower on the bottom square. This theme went on with each floor level being stripped right back. There was a find in the cellar where they were removing some wood and found a cellar behind. It is beleived that this was once leading to a tunnel where things were secretley moved around Belgium and it is a good place to keep beer. On the outside there is some sort of Gothic brickwork that has been uncovered while they were in the process of renovation so has been left as an outside feature set in the wall. We took quite a few photo’s and will use some in this article and some at a later date. As you will see there are all sorts of memorabealia carefully place around the resteraunt and Griet was saying from time to time someone comes up with something new to add. Whe we arrived home I decided to send Griet a few questions and I was going to re-write the rely’s from Griet but I think we would lose the flavour of the article.
How did you first come up with the idea of establishing the BPH, what were the circumstances
In my previous restaurant in Roeselare, I used to sponsor for years the Duivenlokaal Café de Karpel, where every week pigeon fanciers come in to bring in the baskets with the pigeons for the races. (and to have a good beer!) It was part of a sponsorship for a Barcelona flight, let’s say a price for the winner. Many of the pigeon fanceirs came also to my restaurant, tea-room, in Roeselare, so I was in good connection with a lot of them. A certain moment, I got in touch with Rik, Emiel Denys, Dirk Schreel, Frans, Marc, Ginette and many more fascinating pigeon sport people and I got the chance and was invited to join the World championship in Bangkok, Thailand in 2015. I could not believe that pigeons come out of the Bangkok valley to the center of this noisy world city and find their loft on the 6th floor!! But yes, they did!! it was a great moment assisting this event and meeting so many pigeon holders from all over the world. I remember, in my village Oudenburg in Flanders Belgium, when the pigeons came back from their race, and had to come in the loft no noise was heard! silence silence silence all over. So in Bangkok this is not possible and still they find the loft. So training pigeons to come back in the loft with or without noise does not make a difference. In Bangkok, after the race there was an open kitchen and a nice meal was served, like street food. There my idea was born between pigeons, enthousiastic people and good food to start a special concept restaurant in Brugge. A reflection to the beautiful pigeon sport, with it’s lovely pigeon holders. Grown up on a farm where many men , pigeon holders came for feed for their pigeons, I knew them all?de Bultinck brothers, Geernaert, Vandamme, Jef, Deketelaere etc. At that time in the sixties, farmers were suppliers for corn, pees and other grains like “lijnzaad”the seeds from linnen, “vlas”. When I was a young farmers girl I got in touch with pigeon holders, then I met them in my restaurant for many reasons and after that I fell in love with the sport and it’s world wide people in Bangkok, that is a reason to wake up at night and see a dream come true to realise the Belgian Pigeon House in Brugge.
Have you ever had connection with racing pigeons prior to establishing the restaurant
I never had a loft, but now I will assist and buy to little racing pigeons from a frien for the big race in Thailand at the end of the year. Since 2012 I am a member of the Royal Pigeon organisation of Belgium. So I may send them in races. When I told pigeon holders that I wanted to start a Gastrobar in the middle of Bruges, they did support me so much by giving or selling different documents and pigeon clocks, rings, even a flag. They helped me to find this items. Today, it becomes more and more difficult. During more than one century there have been many different systems of pigeon racing. There was a time before digitization. My restaurant is not a museum but it gives a reflection on the famous Belgian sport. They say that after Belgian Beer, Belgian Chocolate comes the Belgian Pigeon.
On our visit we could see that everything has been stripped back to brickwork, what made you do it this way.
My husband and I baught the house in 2010. We had to renovate. That was for sure. So we had to work together with the City of Bruges the way we would restore the building. When all the cement and paint was off, outside and inside, details from the 12th Century saw the daylight again. We all admired the beautiful bricks, all made by hand.
What did you find when you stripped everything back, what is the history surrounding the building?
We took away 3 ceilings (plastic, wood, pressed paper), found gothic windows, a street cellar, a candle holder in the wall and much more. The bricks in the celler are about 13th Century. The old beams are original. The architects from the City, Dept. Monumentcare, were also happy that we kept the interior as it was in the Middle ages. The house had many proprietors, from artists, to café , a grocer shop. The street cellar was a forgotten cellar, found behind a thick wall. It could have been at that time a canal and after the sanding of the Northsea, it became a stockage for Porto and wine. Bruges glorious period in the 14th Century left us beautful buildings in gothic style. The Court dates from the Spanish period in 1520. At the end of the 15th Century, Bruges became poor and unpeopled. It is In 1870, people from Bruges realised very well that they had no growing economy and so no need to put down buildings. That is the reason why the houses are small, no flats and big buildings came instead. They decided to keep the city this way and renovate it in neogothic style. This makes the city look romantic. So the Pigeon House, has never been renocvated until now, nothing was broken away, it was only hidden. The house itself had nothing to do with pigeons, as pigeons could only be hold by monks in the abbey or by nobility and their castles. You needed farmland to get a permission for raising pigeons. Only in the 19th Century everybody could have pigeons.
How did you come across all the pigeon related items that you have on show ?
It was important to have tangidle items about the pigeon sport. Many visitors did not know about this, so I have to explain many times about the beautiful sport and all this items help me with this. I still look for pigeon related items, also via internet. A good friend Mr. Tanghe, looks for me on the flea-markets. In Flanders, old pigeon holders have no successors and so their family do sell a lot. It is a question of time that beautiful things are found on the free market. The given or baught items belong only to the person who won that time and he must have been a professional racing pigeon fancier. This comes to the surface, it is not the value of the item but the person who is behind even a long time ago. The sport has an enormous social character. The pigeon holder does the sport at home, very actively, also very relaxing if you think about being busy with this pigeons but then at the other side you need a club, a social group behind, transporters, the weathercircumstances, frienship etc?and everybody could do it, rich or poor. Be a winner. Anno 2017 still everybody can do it but it became different , we all know that.
You have a guest book, where is the furthest fancier who has visited your restaurant come from.
Visitors from China. Russia, South-Africa, but my guest book has many admirors. People who helped there father, uncle, brother, preparing pigeons for the race. The stories are all different like, a lady had to take a pigeon in her handbag. When she arrived by her lover and everything was O.K. she had to let the pigeon out. He brought the O.K. message quickly home.
Can you recall any occasions when someone has been into your restaurant and there has been a negative response because it is clear that your restaurant is pigeon related.
So far, so good, not yet. Or they don’t know about the sport or they love it. The pigeons we have on the menu are cultured to consume. The way we prepare the meat is the way they prepared it a long time ago. With respect for food and on the grill. Pigeons have many histories, from Julius Ceasar, the Arch of Noach, the wars, to love and peace. Today, many pigeons get lost after a long or even a short race, but do not forget, even people get lost and have no home. In the Belgian Pigeon House everybody is like coming home, we share love, friendship and stories by “pot & pint” I wait like a pigeon fancier until you fly in, welcome.
Footnote LJP.
It was an experience seeing the Belgium Pigeon House and one that I will not forget, we will of course call in there again when we are in Belgium. The people who don’t have pigeons are always welcome becasue they add a bit more to pigeon racing than the everyday fancier. When we scribes write articles from the continent it is nearly always changed into the UK language but on this occassion I have left it as much as I can to what Griet has written so let’s hope the red pen in the BHW office does not change too much. Thanks to Griet for her hospitality and the pleasure of her company at the resteraunt in Belgium.
