De Lollipop calls itself the best known gay venue in the Netherlands. It ran for twenty-five years as a permanent bar at Paleisring 25, inside the Emmapassage, and it says viewers of RTL4 voted it the best gay club in the country.
The arrangement changed in 2022. The indoor room now trades as a tiki and Latin bar under a different name, and De Lollipop itself works as an outdoor, event-driven cafe at the same address. It comes back for the big occasions in the city calendar: Roze Maandag, the Tilburgse Kermis, Carnaval, DragWars and the Festival van het Levenslied.
Roze Maandag is the one that matters most here. It is among the largest LGBTIQ+ days in the Netherlands and this bar has been one of its fixed meeting points for years. The venue's own line is that at the Lollipop everyone is always equal, whatever their orientation or gender.
Anyone travelling specifically for the bar should check what is on before setting out, because it no longer runs as a permanent cafe.
