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| Lille Flandres station |
Lille is only around 85 minutes from London by Eurostar train. Lille Europe station, served by Eurostar, is a short walk from Lille Flandres station where local trains depart to destinations including Lens and Armentieres.
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| ilevia Metro and Tram network at Lille Europe |
Both stations are connected to Metro line 2 (red) from Lomme to Dron which serves Croix, Roubaix and Tourcoing. See appendix for more details about public transport options.
On a visit to Lille, staying at Plaine Images near Roubaix, from Tuesday 10 - Saturday 14 September 2024, a busy schedule for Tim Thomas (on left in photo above) included visits to Croix / Villeneuve d'Ascq (Tuesday), Tourcoing, Roubaix and Croix (Wednesday), Tournai and Kortrijk in Belgium (Wednesday), Lens and Armentieres (Thursday), leaving Saturday to explore Lille. Links for related blog posts (highlighted below) cover:
This post covers: Lens (La Loco); Armentieres (Brasserie Motte Cordonnier) and Lille (L'Illustration).
Lens - La Loco
Tim secured online TER train tickets for 2 euros each way 'Prix Casses Hauts-de-France' by booking in advance using the
SNCF Connect app. The outward train was delayed and left late running non-stop to Lens, arriving at 10.40. Times shown on the tickets for Friday 13 September:
- Out: 9.40 Lille Flandres a. 10.20 Lens TER 843212
- Return: 14.41 Lens a. 15.20 Lille Flandres TER 843225
The walk from the station (photo under heading) via Rue Jean Letienne and then under the railway line at
Pont Cesarine with colourful street art to
Louvre-Lens Museum took about 40 minutes. This includes several stops to read information boards and take photos on the surfaced path through woodland that follows the route of the old mine railway that led from Pont Cesarine to Pit 9.
From a footbridge across Rue Paul Bert the summit of mining slag heap Terril 74b in Loos-en-Gohelle (UNESCO World Heritage site) is visible beyond the end of the road and
Stade Bollaert-Delelis, the home of RC Lens, to the right.
It was nice to see a display of boxed beers and books about beer in the shop of the
Louvre-Lens museum. The museum offers free entry to the 3,000 square metre single storey display area '
La Galerie du temps', arranged chronologically, which opened in 2012.
After returning to Lens station, on foot and by bus, the idea of a beer at
L'Imbeertinence (above) was thwarted by the explanation that no seats were available and one couldn't drink a beer at the bar.
Continuing towards the Saint-Leger de Lens church, tables were set on Place Jean Jaures in front of the town hall for a
Marche Gourmand. Perhaps the participants were all at L'Imbeertinence? Across the street in an art deco style building, confusingly adorned with
A la Ville Limoges, the
Lens tourism office suggested La LOCO, a brasserie / friterie opposite the station, as another good place to find a beer.
Thankfully, there was an unreserved table inside, near the corner entrance of
La LOCO. A draught
Brasserie Castelain CH'TI Blonde and a Croque Monsieur made a pleasant lunch. A small dish of nuts and savoury crackers arrived with the beer. The other French draught beer was
Brasserie du Pays Flamand Anosteke NEIPA. Other draught beers included:
Brasserie Caulier Paix Dieu and Bon Secours Prestige, brewed just across the Belgian border; Cuvee des Trolls; Liefmans Fruitesse; Tripel Karmeliet; Kwak and Rince Cochon Rouge. La LOCO is popular with all ages and the obvious place to stop for a beer before or after a train journey.
Armentieres - Brasserie Motte-Cordonnier
After the luxury of an almost empty train from Lens to Lille Flandres there was only standing space on the 15.39 departure of the TER HDF K70 train to Dunkirk via Armentieres.
Tim's 4 day / 96 hour
ilevia Pass Pass card covered the cost of this journey as Armentieres (in red box above) is just inside the Lille zone for TER validity.
There was a wait near Armentieres station for a bus to the brewery premises again covered by the Pass Pass card.
The brewery is inside an industrial estate at Ruche des 2 Lys and there is only a small sign to indicate the direction.
A table at the entrance featured a display of all the beers available for sale. Most beers are available in 33 cl or 75 cl bottles.
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| L to R: Julien and Gauthier - Brasserie Motte-Cordonnier |
This Friday late afternoon opening (3pm - 7pm) is for sales rather than as a taproom / bar but customers may be offered a beer to sample. The beers are named after members of the family involved with Brasserie Motte-Cordonnier since it was first established in 1650. The brewery closed at its original site nearby in 2008. In 2019
Henry Motte led a family effort to buy back the name and relaunch the brewery.
Julien offered Tim a taste of Fernand, a Saison, after opening a small bottle. A bottle was purchased to drink later, back in the UK (2.75 euros / 33 cl).
After Gauthier joined Julien behind the table, he kindly offered Tim a taste of the IPA Blanche he was drinking. Brewed with orange and 'Bergamotte', a bottle was purchased (2.75 euro) to enjoy a week later, back in the UK.
Thanks to Gauthier also for the gift of a bottle of Rene Blonde, enjoyed later that evening. The label includes the award of
Medaille d'Or 2023 in the Ale Blonde Francais category of the France Biere Challenge. A bottle of Emile Blonde Triple, a multiple award winner including
World Beer Awards Silver (2024) and Bronze (2021) was also purchased and enjoyed back in the UK.
Keep up to date with the brewery, its beers, awards and stockists via its
Facebook page.
The image above, from a
Facebook post before the annual 'la Braderie de Lille' in September, shows stockists of Motte-Cordonnier beers for the 2024 Braderie when market stalls are set up and the central streets are closed to motor traffic. The bars and restaurants listed should be good places to find local beers in Lille.
Although the Brasserie Motte-Cordonnier has not been involved with collaboration beers perhaps there is an opportunity for a UK brewery to suggest this in future?
Lille - L'Illustration
Saturday 14 September 2024 was the first day of
La Braderie de Lille weekend and the last day of Tim's stay in France. There were seats on the M2 metro at Alsace Plaine Images but after passing Roubaix it was packed and a struggle to get off at Lille Europe stop as most passengers were staying on for Lille Flandres stop, nearer the Braderie.
Leaving a backpack, heavy with 3 bottled beers from Brasserie Motte-Cordonnier and 50cl cans of Kasteel Rouge and Pelforth Blonde, at the staffed
left luggage office at Lille Europe was a good idea (5.50 euros for 2 - 10 hours).
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| Place du Theatre Grand Place Place Maurice Schumann |
Although the streets in central Lille were crowded there was still some space in the major squares before noon.
For European Bar Guide,
Jack Anderton had tweeted from
@europebarguide about a visit to L'llustration five days before. Based on this tweet it may end up with a rating higher than
A la Sarthe currently topping the 8 Lille bars featured in the Guide.
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| BierBuik Rue Royale L'Illustration |
Tim's mission for today was to follow in Jack's recent footsteps and his slow progress through the crowded streets of Lille brought him to
L'Illustration, 18 Rue Royale, at noon, just as the proprietor and his staff were putting tables and chairs out on the pavement before opening up early for La Braderie.
It was a welcome relief to be allowed inside and be able to choose the 'best' seat as the first customer of the day - near the bar and with a view of the busy street outside and
BierBuik on the other side of Rue Royale.
For the first beer of the day, 50 cl of draught
Silly Pils Bio was served in an attractive plastic glass (5 euros). As this was La Braderie weekend, most bars in central Lille switched to plastic glasses. The design and lettering on this one had the same art nouveau style as the windows and other features of L'Illustration like the pattern on the bentwood bench against the wall. The attractive design made the plastic glass substitution for a real glass less painful!
As the bar was not busy yet, it was nice that Mafalda spared some time from preparing the bar for a chat. After mentioning that I had enjoyed a visit to the Botanic Gardens at Tourcoing, she advised that she used to live in Tourcoing and that her art background was a reason she liked L'Illustration which regularly features displays by local artists with plenty of hanging space on the colourful walls upstairs.
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| Upstairs at L'Illustration, Lille |
After explaining to the proprietor that a friend had recently recommended L'Illustration he responded that he must appreciate good beer! The Trappist beer range at L'Illustration includes Chimay Bleue, Orval, Rochefort 8 and Westmalle Triple all priced at 6 euros for a 33cl bottle.
Belgian draught beers included
De Ranke XX Bitter and
Adriaen Brouwer Tripel.
Cidre Mauret Exra Bio was the draught cider made locally with apples from Picardy and Normandy. Tim's second draught beer was
La Thiriez Bio blonde brewed in France, near Dunkirk and the Belgian border.
More customers arrived including a group with cameras and a guy with several vinyl LPs purchased at La Braderie stalls. He was happy to show Tim his haul which included Elton John and Peter Gabriel LPs and the Clockwork Orange soundtrack. Pol-Ewen mentioned that he was from Brittany and had enjoyed a visit to Ardnamurchan and the west coast of Scotland which shares some coastal similarities. Later, Pol-Ewen's friend arrived and they posed for a photo.
When Tim's glass was empty, the friendly proprietor brought over a sample of draught Cuvee des Jonquilles brewed by
Brasserie au Baron 20 km east of Valenciennes and only 100 metres from Belgium! It's a fresh and floral Biere de Garde with the attributes of a strong Saison. This led to a 25cl serving as the third and final beer here.
After 5 days in France and Belgium alone and with only a few social exchanges, this visit to L'Illustration, meeting friendly people in a relaxed environment, was a memorable highlight of the trip. However at 2.15pm it was time to say goodbye from a new favourite place.
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| Le Kremlin, Rue Doudin Cathedrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille Parc Henri Matisse |
A hurried jog, without any assistance from inaccessible Google maps, to Lille Europe station to retrieve luggage and board Eurostar involved several changes of direction and delays due to crowded streets but luckily Tim knew where to aim for and he wasn't the last in the queue to check in at 2.45pm.
After an 85 minute train journey and regaining an hour for the time difference, Tim was back at St Pancras International before 4pm.
Appendix - public transport options
Details of the
ilevia Pass Pass card for travel in Lille can be found in the appendix of a previous 2024 post -
Tournai and Kortrijk which also includes information about trains from Lille to Belgium.
The
SNCF Connect app is useful for purchasing tickets to destinations outside the Lille area e.g. Lens.
