Visits to Croix and adjoining communes, in September 2024 by Tim Thomas, were inspired by reading a post on The Good Life France titled The sparkling Beer scene in Lille, northern France. This included a section on Brasserie Cambier, one of three 'brilliant Lille brewers' featured.
Without a car or a bicycle, all travel to visit Brasserie Cambier in Croix and nearby Heavy Brique, a Brique House taproom, just across the southern boundary of Croix in Villeneuve-d'Asque, was by public transport and on foot.
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| Croix - accessible via M2 metro and R tram from Lille and Roubaix |
Croix is about 3 km southwest of Roubaix and Croix is also bordered by Wasquehal to the west and Villeneuve-d'Ascq to the south. Croix is about 7 km northeast of the centre of Lille and is part of the
Metropole Europeenne de Lille (MEL).
Ilévia is the public transport operator for the Lille Métropole, the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Lille in northern France. It operates a mixed system, comprising buses, trams and a driverless light metro system. Photos above show the platform at Croix Centre metro station and a tram at the southern end of Parc Barbieux between Villa Cavrois and Bol d'Air stops.
Heavy Brique
In the extreme north of Villeneuve-d'Ascq commune, this Brique House taproom / restaurant is located within
La Maillerie building at 132 All. des Mannequins.
The ground floor of
Heavy Brique (HTSM) is open all year. In summer months it's supplemented by a popular rooftop bar separated from the ground floor by a multi-storey garage.
Opening hours are 12 noon-12 midnight (Mon-Sat) and 10.45 - 15.00 hrs (Sunday).
The ground floor premises with glass windows has a large 850 square metre floor area and high ceilings. It has several different areas and can accommodate up to 300 people with seating at a mix of bar stools, small tables, some large tables and a lounge area.
The best way to get an idea of the size of the place is to watch a
video from the Brique House website made to promote the venue for private hire. The website also includes interior
photos.
The long bar has 30 beer taps set in a wall behind and there is a separate food bar.
Tim visited on a wet Tuesday evening after a ride on the R2 tram (green line) from its northern terminus, Roubaix Euroteleport to Bol d'Air, near the southern end of Parc Barbieux, followed by a 1 kilometer walk westwards.
Arriving soon before the end of the daily 5pm-7pm 'Happy Hour', a 50cl glass of Superdelic Wanderlust NEIPA, reduced from 7.50 to 6 euros, a collaboration between Brique House and Berlin's
Unverhopft, was the first beer of the trip, enjoyed at a small table by a side end of the bar.
Instead of a printed menu, it's necessary to find menu details online using a QR code on the table. After explaining this, the waiter later returned to take the order for Chicken Maroilles, prepared with a sauce made with
Maroilles cheese, a strong smelling cow's milk cheese, which is locally produced and supplied in rectangular form.
He soon returned as the dish was not available and instead Flemish Carbonnade was ordered (16.90 euros). The beef stew was served on a board with salad and fries and a basket of bread. A tasty and satisfying first meal of the trip. There are nine 'sharing' items, 3 salads and 15 items in 'The Brewery' section of the menu to choose from.
Free standing tall fridges have bottles of Brique House beer to take away after payment at the bar. Tim chose 33cl bottles of Chateau Binouze (Saison, 3.40 euros) and Super Coron (Belgian pale ale, 2.50 euros) to take back to his holiday accommodation at Plaine Images and enjoy later that evening. This destination was reached after a ten minute walk to Croix-Centre metro station and a ride on the M2 metro (red line) just beyond Roubaix to the Alsace - Plaine Images stop.
Lille, near Lille Flandres and Lille Europe stations - Hein Brique House - includes a microbrewery;
Saint-Andre-Lez-Lille, 5 km north of Lille Flandres - Brique Land - pizza menu;
Paris, near Grands Boulevards metro - Brique Machine;
Reims - Brique House;
Bordeaux - Back Yard Brique House
The Brique House brewery is at Motherland, on an industrial estate 10 km southeast of Lille Flandres.
La Maillerie and La Branche de Croix
The large area of new buildings that links Villeneuve d'Ascq and Croix includes the Maillerie building with its rooftop garden in the north east corner of the site. A video,
La Maillerie 2019, shows the previous buildings on the site and its transformation into the concept illustrated above. Since 1852 it was the site of the Holden company until its demise. Founded in Roubaix in 1932, as a wool spinning mill, the
3 Suisses redeveloped the site in 1956. The company became a giant in mail order catalogues and later online sales of clothing and furniture. The project website includes a
site history page with further details. A concurrent development that reaches to the north west corner of the La Maillerie site is the revival of 'La Branche de Croix'.
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| Photos from a related post on Twitter / X by Metropole Lille / MEL |
A post by
Lille Actu reported that with its inauguration in Wasquehal on 4 October 2024, the 'dead arm' of the Roubaix canal - La Branche de Croix - has found a new life with a green space spanning Wasquehal, Croix and Villeneuve d'Ascq. The 30 million euro project, which started in 2022, included cleaning of the canal bed and removal of polluted sediments, restoration of the banks, new quays and four new footbridges.
Brasserie Cambier
The
Brasserie Cambier bar and shop is open Wednesday to Saturday. Hours are 4pm - 10pm (Wed-Fri) and 10am - 8pm (Sat).
It's situated 700 metres north west of Croix-Centre metro station along the tree-lined Rue de la Gare and just beyond a water tower.
Tim arrived on Wednesday at 18.30 hrs and found that both inside and outside spaces were busy.
The bar area includes windows into the brewery, seating and a darts board to the right of the entrance.
Tim's first draught beer (La Dame Jeanne - 25cl / 3.60 euros) was brewed in collaboration with
La Dame Jeanne Craft Beer Shop & Bar, situated about 4 kilometres north of the brewery, near the Trois Suisses stop of the T tram (blue line) from Lille to Tourcoing.
From an initial rather windy and chilly standing position outside, Tim came inside to order his second beer and found a stool to perch on, by a handy shelf, with a view of the bar.
The draught Brasserie Cambier NEIPA Mosaic / El Dorado (25 cl / 4 euros) was hazy and juicy and less dry than the previous beer.
It's nice when a brewery features colourful original artwork on their labels and also displays it on the walls.
Brasserie Cambier also has a colourful '
Library of Sensations' wall of painted wooden modules by
Floriane Dupont, the Lille based artist who has designed artwork for Brasserie Cambier labels since 2021 and provides a selection of these as free downloads from a link on the
fl0uk website.
A view through the window into the brewery shows there is a high standard of shiny equipment.
Tim shared his shelf from the bar with a display of bottles and cans available from the brewery shop.
The Mongy range of staple beers from Cambier takes its name from
Alfred Mongy 'an emblematic figure from the 2nd industrial revolution, who gave his name to the Lille metropolitan area tramway which passes through the town of Croix'. The Cambier range is made up exclusively of limited edition beers.
The
brewery website also explains that its logo is 'inspired by the brewer's star: it is a symbolic representation of brewing alchemy involving the four elements (water, fire, earth, air)'.
The blackboard behind the bar includes sections for A Emporter (take away) beers and Merch.
Always keen to find a Saison, Tim ordered a 33cl bottle of Mongy Saison Bio and a 33cl can of Saison Pebranle (a collab beer with
Daddy Brew based in Waziers, 40 km south of Croix) to enjoy later.
Leaving after about an hour and a half, the sky to the north looked ominous but it remained dry for the walk back to Croix-Centro metro via Gare de la Rue.
Visit Heavy Brique and Brasserie Cambier
From Wednesday to Saturday it's possible to combine visits to Heavy Brique and Brasserie Cambier.
Marked with orange squares on the map above, both are an easy walk from Croix-Centro metro (M2 red line). To avoid doubling back, since the opening of La Branche de Croix, it must be possible to combine the path along the newly landscaped stretch of the canal bank from Rue de Professeur Perrin at the east end to the bridge at Avenue Georges Hannart further west.
The eastern part of Croix
The R tram (Green line) runs beside the handsome houses and mansions of
Bd du General de Gaulle on the west and the green spaces of Parc Barbieux on the east, dividing urban, commercial and industrial Croix on the the west from the leafier, affluent, residential areas of Croix on the east.
Before heading to Brasserie Cambier, Tim walked around the eastern part of Croix visiting Parc Mallet-Stevens and later getting a glimpse of the majestic
Villa Cavrois from the rear entrance (architect: Robert Mallet-Stevens).
With its broad, tree-lined streets and detached houses set behind hedges and security gates, this area with streets and avenues named after Winston Churchill, President J F Kennedy and Robert Schuman, must be where the Lille elite enjoy their leisure time.
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