Cafe 't Mandje opened on the Zeedijk on 26 February 1927 and calls itself the oldest queer bar in the Netherlands. Its motto has not changed in a century: fun and respect since 1927, we don't know any better.
What matters about the place is that it was a bar where lesbians and gay men drank openly, in a city and a period where that was not done. The interior is treated as heritage rather than decor, and the bar keeps a photographic archive of its own past and full 360 degree recordings of the rooms.
It closed in March 2020 with the pandemic, went into renovation in August 2024, and reopened in June 2025 with the stated intention of changing nothing. It also does weddings. The founder's birthday is marked every January.
