On a pub crawl with the night mayor: ‘Use the nightlife’s experimental space’

Night mayor Thys Boer takes EM on a pub crawl from the campus to the centre. He encourages students to discover the ‘experimental space’ of going out. “Through nightlife I found a portal into other people’s worlds of experience.”

Recognisable by his red-blond mullet, Thys Boer (32) has been in every corner of Rotterdam’s night scene for 18 years. The municipality appointed him last year as night mayor, to look after the city’s nightlife. In this role, and as chair of advocacy group N8W8 R’dam, he shares knowledge about the culture of the night and helps entrepreneurs and policymakers to let the nightlife thrive.

With the start of the academic year thousands of new students are arriving in Rotterdam who will want to put down their books at weekends (and during the week) to go out on the town. For Erasmus Magazine Thys has mapped out a pub crawl from the university to the centre. Along the way he explains what makes going out special and offers tips for newcomers: “Make sure you’ve had a good meal, don’t try to be cool, wear good shoes.”

Over the fence

The pub crawl begins at Locus Publicus, a traditional brown bar on the Oostzeedijk. Small groups of friends sit outside and there are solo patrons at the bar. When Thys arrives the street is still quiet, apart from the hen parties queuing for the female-focused strip club Bon Ton. The pub sits between the city and the university where Thys graduated in 2019 from the master’s in Cultural Entrepreneurship.

“I wasn’t a very active student”, he says. He skipped the Eurekaweek. As a Rotterdam native who had been sneaking into bars since he was fourteen, he already knew the city well. “I noticed that through nightlife I had a sort of portal into other people’s worlds of experience. A bit like leaning over the fence into someone’s garden to learn how things could be different.” That made him keep wanting to return to the night.

Finding out who you are

Now that he teaches at the Willem de Kooning Academy he views his student years differently. “What I really want to pass on to students is that you should make use of the space you get during your studies to try things out.” That space is in the knowledge you are given and the people around you at a time with relatively fewer responsibilities. “Students are fresh, often young people with ideas and ambitions, some are still looking for what they want. I think nightlife is also a bit of an experimental space for society, where you can find out who you are, what you want and who you want to be with. That fits very well with what students go through.”

Shitty times

Thys Boer gets on his bike for the next stop, café Verward. He recommends the bike as the ultimate mode of transport at night. “You’re more flexible and it’s also a good way to discover the city.” He rides a slim, sporty model that he secures with a folding lock to a bike staple. Café Verward is a wine bar on the quiet Hoogstraat. The waiter is one of Thys’ students, happy to recommend a white wine.

“It’s a shitty time to study”, Thys says, “sorry.” The housing crisis and the climate crisis weigh increasingly heavily and he notices that young people go out less. He cites a Trimbos study showing that in 2023 visits to pubs, clubs and house parties had dropped by more than 40 percent compared with three years earlier. And he sees only a small recovery. “Digitalisation is a challenge for nightlife. In the past you had to leave the house to find a lover or make new friends. But consumer behaviour has also changed: young people drink a lot less alcohol, they care much more about their health, including sleep patterns.”

He welcomes the extra attention to that, but “dancing is good for you too, and stress relief is nice as well. I get a lot of energy from going out, it’s a place where I’m inspired and can recharge.” In the conversations he has at night he sharpens his perspective. “They can be about anything, from the housing crisis to new shoes. I want to be able and willing to doubt and to be open to others and in that way be tolerant of their ideas.”

Puddle of beer

When the sun goes down it’s colder than expected. The heat lamps at Bokaal, opposite Erasmus University College, cast a red glow over groups of friends at high tables. What does the night mayor advise students who are going out for the first time these weeks? “If you’ve never been out, I’d go out the first time with someone you like. If you’ve been out more, I’d go alone sometimes. I’d mostly go and find out where the people you find interesting hang out, that’s different for everyone.”

He never had much to do with student associations, for example, but he sees them as places where people can find each other. “The people make the place. I’ve found myself in basements where I wouldn’t have been without those people. In a puddle of beer, or what I hoped was beer.”

The night is for everyone

On the street it is noticeable that this evening mostly men are out. “Not every woman is safe, unfortunately”, Thys says as he passes a cigarette from hand to hand. The violent murder of 17-year-old Lisa after a night out in Amsterdam last month has led to increased attention to violence against women. As night mayor he insists that the night should be a place for everyone. “We cannot, must not, should not accept that women are unsafe, and we must not victim-blame women. The problem always lies with the perpetrator, and that is almost always a man.” He does not want to tell young female students to stay at home. “You’re not the one doing anything wrong, you should simply be able to do what you want to do.”

In the next bar, Thoms on Meent, he says safety is an important issue for N8W8. “We’ve been lobbying for the return of the night bus for years.” From 5 September they will run on weekends to the outer neighbourhoods of Rotterdam. This makes going out more accessible for people who don’t want to cycle through places like Kralingse Bos in the dark. Next to us a group of girls with carefully applied make-up sit on a bench. A few tables away a birthday is being celebrated.

Guru

The final stop is Brewdog, tucked behind the town hall. A large place with a collection of polaroids of dogs next to the front door. Thys’ brother works here and he buys him a tap drink that tastes like a supermarket smoothie with alcohol. “I don’t find it as nice as fruit juice and nor as nice as beer”, he notes.

He goes on to describe his plans as night mayor. With his team he is putting together a night agenda, with weekly curated tips and an overview of all events. “We notice that many people coming to Rotterdam, first-year students, have no idea where to go.” He wants to help people find their own place in society. But please don’t take him as an example. He laughs: “I’m not a guru.”