Cafés in Vismarkt & Folkingestraat

Walking in from the station

Groningen's central station is 10–15 minutes on foot from the center. Cross the bridge by the Groninger Museum, carry straight on along Ubbo Emmiusstraat and the Folkingestraat, and you arrive at the Vismarkt; turn right for the Grote Markt. Buses to the Grote Markt leave from outside the station every few minutes.⁸

The Folkingestraat existed by the 11th century and is named after the Folkerdinghe family, who lived on its corner with the Akerkhof. The name is first recorded in 1439.³

The Folkingestraat and its Jewish history

In the 19th and early 20th centuries the street was the center of Groningen's Jewish quarter, and its last stretch was called the Jodenstraatje from 1756 to 1890.³ The synagogue at numbers 60–62, designed by Tjeerd Kuipers, dates from 1906 and stands on the site of an earlier one from 1756.³

In 1942 and 1943, 2,550 Jewish Groningers were deported; the street had 191 Jewish residents. At least ten Stolpersteine (memorial stones) in the pavement name them, and five artworks installed in 1997 recall the street before the war, among them a bronze door without a handle at the Zuiderdiep corner.³

The Korenbeurs, the A-kerk and the market

J.G. van Beusekom, the city architect, designed the Korenbeurs, and statues of Neptune, Ceres and Mercury, for seafaring, farming and trade, stand on its roof. Grain trading there faded through the 1980s, and an Albert Heijn supermarket has filled the hall since July 2000.² The A-kerk (Der Aa-kerk) stands right behind it.¹

The city's general market sets up on the Vismarkt and the north side of the Akerkhof on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 09:00–17:00.⁵ On the north side of the square, the Grand Bazar Français, built in 1904, was Groningen's first department store.¹

Cafés from the Vismarkt to the Hoge der A

Huis de Beurs, at A-Kerkhof ZZ 4 on the corner of the Folkingestraat, takes its name from the grain exchange opposite and is said to date from about 1795. Its building has served as an inn, concert hall, auction house and cinema. It is closed on Mondays and open until 20:00 from Thursday to Saturday.⁶ Pronk, at Vismarkt 56, and Bee Tea, at number 44, are on the square itself.

Two cafés sit on the water. Café de Sigaar, at Hoge der A 2, overlooks the canal and pours its own Sigaar Blond beer; Het Pomphuis, at Kleine der A 7, occupies a former pumping station with a waterside terrace.⁷ The Hoge der A was the city's first harbor, and warehouses such as Pakhuis Libau still line the quay.⁴

For an early coffee, Luhu on the Munnekeholm opens at 08:00 from Tuesday to Saturday. Toet, on the Gedempte Zuiderdiep, has vegan dishes and opens daily 10:00–17:00, and Orlando on Ubbo Emmiusstraat serves brunch Monday to Saturday until 16:30. Lian Tea and T Voor Thee sell bubble tea on the Folkingestraat.