Oldest places

Here you can see the oldest and longest running gay and lesbian places in Amsterdam.

Existing places

The oldest surviving gay and lesbian places, in order of the year they opened:

Café 't Mandje, Zeedijk 63 (since 1927)

Café Saarein, Elandsstraat 119 (since 1978)

Spijker Bar, Kerkstraat 4 (since 1979)

The Eagle, Warmoesstraat 90 (since 1979)

Café Montmartre, three addresses (since 1983)


It is not possible to say with certainty what the first gay bar in Amsterdam was. At the beginning of the 18th century there were already a few taverns where gay men met, similar to the Molly houses in Britain. At the end of the 19th century they met in various brothels and in beer and coffee houses. In the first half of the 20th century, Amsterdam had about five gay bars in a modern sense, of which a café in the Nes was the best known.

Former places

Gay and lesbian places that have been closed, in order of how many years they existed:

60 years: Populair/Monico, Lange Niezel 15 (1941 - 2001)

60 years: Amstel Taveerne, Amstel 54 (1964 - 2007/2024)

52 years: De Krokodil, Amstelstraat 34 (1957 - 2009)

51 years: Downtown, Reguliersdwarsstraat 31 (1970 - 2021)

51 years: Thermos Sauna, three addresses (1964 - 2015)

49 years: Argos Bar, two addresses (1965 - 2014)