As I enjoy a delicious cup of coffee, I engage in a conversation with the barista and some other coffee-lovers. The topic is the lovability of the Gare area.
You might be surprised by this. Lovability of the Gare? Yes. I know the press has been bad, and there are problems, but whilst drinking my coffee on the rue d’Anvers, all I see is good stuff. All I can think is that the Gare is quickly becoming my favourite part of Luxembourg. And all I fear is that it will quickly lose its very special atmosphere.
I know that, until 8 months ago, the city’s council felt compelled to engage the services of a private security company because the police were understaffed and therefore not able to deal with the aggression and criminality in the area.
I also know that robberies and harassment are increasing. Plus, the Gare is probably the area where you have the biggest chance of running into junkies (except for around secondary schools, but we’ll tackle that some other time). And where there are drugs, there’s criminality.
A dodgy area is not a popular area and that’s what keeps the rents lower than elsewhere in the city. And if it were up to me, it should stay that way. Because it is the affordability that creates this tiny biotope with its unique atmosphere in the heart of Luxembourg. Young entrepreneurs can actually afford to start a business here. And that is what you feel.
The air here exudes entrepreneurship. Just walk around and take it all in. The creative and ‘can do’ mentality is palpable. Every month a new shop or cafe is opening. Where the majority of shops on and around the Grand rue are part of a chain - as that is the only way to afford the astronomical rents - the Gare is the place for one-of-a-kind shops. For entrepreneurs to set up the store of their dreams.
Like the one I am sitting in now, Florence. They only use coffee from small African coffee plantations where business is done fairly. I love that and the coffee is delicious, but that is not what makes the place so special. It is the young owners. One of them knows around 400 customers by name from the first time they come in and she knows their drink as well. In fact, this coffee place was mentioned in the Financial Times as one of the best coffee places in the world and it is right here in our little Gare area.
Or how about the lady who used to work in the financial world and decided she preferred making artisanal chocolates to making other people’s money grow. So, she opened her own chocolate store, Madame Chocolat on the Avenue de la Liberté. Business is alright. And that’s partly because the rent is doable. It’s the Gare area that enabled her to follow her dream.
I talked to two guys that are opening a cafe with their own beer brand. They love the Gare area as well and they are excited about their future in gastronomy. But starting a business in Luxembourg has become tough. According to these young men, it is now Luxembourg that carries the phrase ‘if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere’, especially in the restaurant/café business.
As mentioned above, the outrageously high rents make it difficult to survive with a small business. But according to the two men, compensating for the high rent by raising the prices of your products, is not so easy in Luxembourg. There seems to be a maximum price that people are willing to pay, and it isn’t enough to cover the costs.
I have a theory on this: prices in Luxembourg have gone up so quickly that people still remember the cheaper times too well and object to more increase.
30 years ago, there was hardly anything here. Housing was cheap, there were very few shops, no university, no dining-out culture to speak of.
Today, Luxembourg has the highest GDP per capita in Europe and 3rd worldwide. Buying real estate has become, well, a challenge at best. According to Eurostat, between 2010 and 2020 housing prices in Luxembourg increased by 89% while the European average in that period was 26%…
In short, prices have not gradually augmented over several generations. Prices have shot through the roof in one single generation. Add to that that Luxembourg was originally a farming country, with a farmer’s frugal mentality, and you can see why people, that remember paying 1,50 for their first beer, are unwilling to now pay 9 euros for a beer. And I get it. Beer mainly consists of water anyway.
With the upgrading of the Gare, more development companies will show their interest and it’s only a matter of time before the biggest dude with the fattest bank account comes along to spruce up the area.
It will change the Gare into yet another upmarket, unaffordable part of Luxembourg where there is no breathing space for the young and upcoming. Developers will push the lovely young and original thinkers out of the affordable parts of the city to start up their entrepreneurial ideas and unique concepts elsewhere.
It’s a shame.
That’s why I think there should be a plan to keep the Gare a little bit dodgy. Not super nasty, but just dodgy enough so that it will always be affordable and remain a starting point for a young soul with a great idea.
