01 Dec '14

Welcome to the cafe on the crazy hill

12020
door Michaël Bellon
The red letters that appear to be peeling off on one of the facades of the corner building read ‘In de Welkom, Bij Mw Wouters-Wauters’ (referring to the Welkom or Welcome cafe, owned by a Mrs Wouters-Wauters). Called Lisa or Leeza by the local customers, Mrs Wouters-Wauters still runs the establish

The red letters that appear to be peeling off on one of the facades of the corner building read ‘In de Welkom, Bij Mw Wouters-Wauters’ (referring to the Welkom or Welcome cafe, owned by a Mrs Wouters-Wauters). Called  Lisa or Leeza by the local customers, Mrs Wouters-Wauters still runs the establishment. Eighty eight years old but still not looking her age, Lisa Wauters has  been running the place since 1959, but it goes back a lot further than that, in fact to 1906, while the furniture dates back to 1938. Situated in Dworp, the cafe has  several (nick)names: The Mayor's cafe, The Pray for Us cafe and, currently, Leeza's cafe (Bij Leeza). Some of these names obviously have a story behind them. And speaking of strange names, the cafe is located at an altitude commonly referred to as the ‘Crazy Hill’. (RK, dec 2014)