The Citadel tops the land that separates the rivers Meuse and Sambre at the point where they meet in Namur.
On the slopes of the citadel, a golden sculpture by Jan Fabre 'In Search of Utopia' is also visible from the rivers' banks.
Namur is located about 34 miles southeast of Brussels in Wallonia which is the French speaking part of Belgium. It is a fairly compact city to navigate with the university, the cathedral and most of the shops and bars lying between the rebuilt railway station and the rivers.
The university and the cathedral lie just to the west of the 'Quartier Historique'.
Le Chapitre
Situated immediately south of the cathedral, at Rue du Seminaire 4, Le Chapitre, was the first bar we visited after checking in to the new B&B Hotel near the station on Wednesday 29 January.
N.B. The bar is entered from a badly lit side door and not from the corner. We had been warned that it was cash only so never attempted to pay be card here.
Tables of different sizes are well spaced around the room with the simple bar set in a corner. Decoration includes enamel brewery signs and some hops.
Philomene Florale brewed locally by Brasserie du Clocher is available on draught and my first beer was a bottle of Saison Dupont. It was a relief to find such an ideal bar with a relaxed environment to enjoy a favourite beer after a full day of train travel.
No meals are served but a 'Suggestions' blackboard mentions plates of Cheese, Sausage or a Mixture of both are available.
A large blackboard on the inside wall lists all the beers with prices that make paying for two beers with a €10 note an easy option. We would return here on three subsequent evenings for a beer and never failed to find a table or an interesting beer to try from the blackboard. These included: Saxo (Brasserie Caracole); La Corne du Bois des Pendus Triple (Brasserie del Legendes); Queue de Charrue Vieille Brune / Ploegsteert Oud Bruin (Brasserie / Brouwerij Vanuxeem); La Trappe Quadrupel (Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven) and Delirium Nocturnum (Delirium - Huyghe Brewery).
Brasserie Francois
Situated near the front entrance to the cathedral,
Brasserie Francois, with its neon sign outside and bright lights inside, was almost the polar opposite experience to Le Chapitre! Diners are seated on the left and drinkers on the right and we were shown to an appropriate table from the central entrance.
It was nice to find two local beers from
Brasserie du Clocher (Philomene) and
Brasserie Houppe (La Houppe) available on draught at this upmarket 'Carlsberg' establishment. The 25cl glasses (€6) were generously filled and our drinks were served with a complimentary small bowl of nuts.
From our seats on the right, overlooking the central island bar, there was constant activity to observe with bar service and waiters working hard. We looked at the food menu but decided against eating here.
Barnabeer
By the time we reached
Barnabeer, at Rue de Bruxelles 39, it was 10.30pm but it was fairly quiet on a Wednesday night.
The entire length of the bar in the back room is lined with beer fonts and there are fridges and shelves behind the bar for bottles and cans.
We found a table in the front room which has tall lockable cages for beer bottle storage against two walls obscuring the windows to the street.
Barnabeer publishes its own retro-style newspaper that includes the current beer list and some advertisements. It seemed like a good idea to order La BarnaB brewed in Wallonia especially for the bar by
Brasserie de Jandrain-Jandrenouille. This draught Dry Hop Pale Ale was €3.90 for a 25cl glass.
A good thing about the draught beer list for the more expensive beers is that all the 15cl (Galopin) measures are priced at €3.
For our last beers of the evening we were able to taste 15cl glasses of the Trappist collaboration beer between
Zundert (NL) and
Tynt Meadow (UK) in the dark Belgian Dubbel style and Brasserie de la Tour Eldorado, a Belgian Triple IPA. Thankfully, Eldorado was a suggestion from our server and turned out to be one of the beers featured in
Hidden Beers of Belgium, written by Breandan Kearney and published in 2024. It appears there as beer number 11, in the 'Wolf Pack' section against Brasserie Des Champs, a farm brewery in nearby Spy, established by Jean-Christophe Larsimont, formerly a skin cancer researcher.
The Barnabeer newspaper also included the above plan of the rooms and terrace. Other pages list all the bottled beers available.
There's also a page for brewery locations with a map. The free newspaper was interesting to look through and would make an excellent souvenir of any visit.
Leaving at midnight, I stopped to get a photo of a board which highlighted another feature in the newspaper - Les Aperos du Jeudi - as a reminder to return to take advantage of the visit of representatives from Brasserie du Clocher and a free 15cl glass (Galopin) of their beer on Thursday evening.
Barnabeer was much more lively on Thursday evening but we were able to find space at a table in the front room. My choice of a free Galopin from Brasserie du Clocher, was Philomene Celeste, a Blonde / Amber Triple. The brewery is housed in a church in Malonne, near Namur.
It would be rude to depart without paying for a beer so this was a good opportunity to try Jambes en l'Air, a Blonde beer brewed a few miles south of Namur by Brasserie Houppe.
The brewery logo features two people walking on stilts.
Barnabeer, opening at 2pm (closed Sundays), with its helpful serving staff, Thursday tastings, and wide beer range featuring exclusive beers is an easy to find Namur bar that is not to be missed!
Chez Juliette
Chez Juliette has a rather anonymous corner setting where Rue des Brasseurs meets Place Maurice Servais and is just across from the base station for the
Telepherique / Cable car service which crosses the river Sambre and rises up to the Citadel. It was the first bar / cafe we found open after a wet Thursday afternoon investigating the grounds of the Citadel.
The big windows and the concrete uprights and bar are determining features of the space which has some homely and colourful touches applied with lampshades, artwork and retro furnishings.
The beer list included Quintine de Noel on draught and a winter beer seemed appropriate (below).
After enjoying this visit we returned on Saturday evening when Chez Juliette was much busier but we were able to find space at a table.
Dogs are welcome here and there is even a dog bed under one end of the bar!
On Saturday there was a chance to sample two rare bottled beers. La Roseau, with floral and earthy notes, is brewed by
Brasserie Artisanale MilleVertus, Tintigny, in the south of Wallonia for Chez Juliette. A local at the bar had advised us on Thursday that there were better beers on the list than
Brase but as it was brewed for establishments in the Rue des Brasseurs it needed tasting! Brase, a light lime blossom beer, is a 'Biere de froment au tilleul' brewed by
Brasserie Bertinchamps near Gembloux, between Namur and Brussels. Brase earned a relatively low score from Tim on
untappd but his expectations had been low!
La Cuve a Biere
Only a few doors west along Rue des Brasseurs leads to
La Cuve a Biere entered via a courtyard.
On Thursday, it had been closed earlier but we were advised to return and then found it open with an industrial hot air blower to raise the temperature. We were the only customers and found a table near the entrance with a view of the bar.
There's a blackboard with the beer list outside the entrance and the five matching brass fonts are in the middle of the circular bar which looks like a large barrel from the front.
Steps lead up to a DJ area at the left side of the room. A pair of stilts with spiral stripes are displayed at an oblique angle over a central opening to the rear (Houppe is one of the draught beers) and a motorbike is suspended over lounge seating on the far wall. This may reference the
motocross competitions that Namur is known for. Beers chosen here included: a can of Sunlight des Tropiques brewed by Brasserie du Borinage, located west of Mons and the reliable Tripel Karmeliet from Brouwerij Bosteels, €4 on draught.
We enjoyed our visit to Namur. Although the capital of
Wallonia, it doesn't really compare with a busy city like Antwerp. It remains a pleasant city to visit and with bars like Le Chapitre and Barnabeer and it's good rail connections, it makes a good centre for a beer lover's visit to Wallonia, Belgium.
Addendum
A few points arising from our visit:
B&B Hotel - recommended budget hotel with some rooms having views of the station
Liquorette by Alfonse, Rue des Brasseurs 94 - recommended for a relaxed meal / drink
Phat-Thai - recommended Thai restaurant
Cafeo - A busy brasserie earmarked for a future visit
Friterie du Parc - recommended kiosk at north east corner of the Parc Louise Marie
Direct trains to Brussels, Liege, Dinant, Mons and Luxembourg etc leave from Namur station.
