Leiden's last gay bar closes as nightlife habits shift

Leiden is about to lose its only gay bar, and the reasons say a lot about how queer nightlife is changing across the Netherlands. Michiel Hoogkamer, owner of De Roze Beurs, has set 15 August as the final night after 24 years behind the bar. He told DutchNews there was no single reason for closing, but he described a tough moment for small venues. In his view, young people are no longer loyal to one place. They go to monthly or quarterly club parties instead, or choose restaurants in the middle of the day. Amsterdam has not been untouched. The gay-oriented restaurant Cafe Getto, known for its Diva Burgers, closed a few years ago, and the queer food bar Lola the Green Aardvark and the lesbian, bisexual and queer café B'Femme both shut in 2025. Peter Koop, writer and editor of homohoreca.nl, said the number of gay saunas has fallen from 12 in 2020 to eight. The picture is not uniformly bleak. Koop said the decline in gay bars nationally is slow: on average two close each year, though at least one new one usually opens. He noted that the number in Amsterdam has held steady since a downturn between 2010 and 2015, and that the city's gay establishments benefit from tourism in a way the rest of the country's do not. Philip Tijsma of COC Nederland said people now tend to attend a large LGBTI+ party or festival a few times a year rather than visiting a bar often. He added that general nightlife venues have become more inclusive, so LGBTI+ people often feel at home there too. That shift is the context in which Vibra operates. If loyalty to a single venue is fading, a community needs other ways to hold together. Vibra brings LGBTQ+ nightlife in Amsterdam into one place, from tickets to the events people return to, and rewards that regular turnout with Pulse points. Source: DutchNews.nl — “Amsterdam’s gay tourism scene doesn’t stretch beyond the city” (1 August 2026)