“There are no restrictions on the opening hours of the stands in Assen. We want excitement in the city.” VVD faction leader Michel Haslacher made this appeal tonight in the municipal council, partly on behalf of Assen Centraal and D66. He requested clarification regarding the possible introduction of terrace hours in Assen. Because it causes a stir among catering companies in the city.
The VVD, D66 and Assen Centraal factions do not favor the idea of introducing closing times. They want to make the catering industry flourish and give them complete freedom to run the business well.
This week came through RTV Drenthe It has emerged that a working group from the catering industry in Aser is in talks with the municipality about limiting the opening hours of the stands. They should close at 11pm on weekdays and at 1am on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Many catering entrepreneurs were shocked by this plan and described it as “disastrous.”
Closing times are essential for a good downtown living environment, is the city council’s argument. This will be affected by the noise of food being served until late hours. In recent years, more and more people have come to live in the center, due to the construction of apartments above shops.
But the VVD, Assen Centraal and D66 oppose this. According to the parties, no additional houses have been built in recent years on sites where night-time catering is allowed according to Horecavisie. “People have deliberately moved to live near a café. In our opinion, inconvenience to the living environment is not an argument for limiting working hours. Because if you live next to the highway, you also know that you will hear the sounds of cars. And at night too,” said VVD party leader Haslacher.
He wondered: Is the council willing to keep the stadium closing times as they are now? “We must pay special attention to what is needed to boost the catering industry in Assen. Because if Assen really wants to become a vibrant city, well-equipped cafés and terraces are absolutely part of that. They are also perfectly in line with the ambitions of Aser’s ambitious agenda to become A true student city.”
Mayor Marco Ott admitted there had been a great deal of “anger” in the council over the announcement of the closure dates. According to him, all the angry and alarming reactions to this are “premature.” “Horeca and the municipality are still discussing this matter and in a good way.”
This does not mean that the two parties always agree, according to Ott. “And within the catering industry itself, the interests are very different, and there are always parties that want to do things differently. But we are confident that we will find a solution.”
According to Ott, there were no dates for closing the stands in Assen until the Corona period. Exit is not in favor of returning to the old situation, without closing time. “In some places the living climate has changed, in other places it has not. So maybe different times in some places.”
Out wants to achieve the “common good” with the catering industry. “This process is currently underway and should not disturb breeding chickens.” The outsider fired another shot across the bow. This is the proposal to introduce a tropical table. “Some cities use that. On a few days when the weather is really special, it might take longer. We still have to discuss whether that’s a thing.”