A blue bicycle is tethered to a lamppost outside Whitley Bay’s newest pub. Random act or product placement? Let’s go for serendipity. The pub is Café Amsterdam and anyone who knows the slightest thing about the Dutch capital will recognise that every hitching post at every bar and canal bridge is a pedal-pusher’s depository.

Café Amsterdam, on Whitley Bay’s Victoria Terrace, is the brainchild of Andy Hickson, who — despite his boyish looks — clocked up 27 years with the Sir John Fitzgerald group of pubs which included stints at the Bacchus, The Bodega, Crown Posada and The Bridge Hotel in Newcastle plus The Green at Wardley, Gateshead. I might have missed one or two…

Café Amsterdam has been through a lengthy gestation period; the idea that a Dutch-style bar in the North East offering Dutch beers, Dutch spirits and Dutch snacks could be a success gnawed at Andy Hickson so much that he began organising a series of weekend pop-ups — usually in like-minded micro-breweries — around the region.

Crucially, they all tied in with Netherlands culture, some of which British drinkers still find quaint — for example, the norm is to select a seat, sit down and you’ll be served at your table, rather than planting elbows on the bar while waving twenties.

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Similarly, a genever chaser (the forerunner of gin) served with a glass of beer, is filled to the brim and sipped while bending from the waist down before you’re allowed to touch the glass. And woe-betide the punter who drinks beer before spirit.

Andy says: “The Dutch beer scene is very vibrant at the moment. Their beer is as good as any in the world; it speaks for itself. British boozers are still the envy of the world, but in continental café culture the pace is much more relaxed. You don’t feel as if you have to chuck six pints down your neck.

“Sitting for a while makes you enjoy the beer more. Dutch beer from the likes of Brewpub De Kromme Haring, De Molen and Brouwerij Kees reflects the modern worldwide craft beer movement; it’s about higher alcohol percentages and less volume. Our house beer, for example, is Frontaal Brewing Company Juice Punch at 5.8% abv, whereas in a British pub they’re about 3.8% abv. 

“Higher gravity beers give you more layers of flavour and dictate a different pace of drinking, a different experience, and are maybe a bit more expensive. It’s top quality — drinking less but better — a culture that takes a bit of getting used to.”

Café Amsterdam is what could be described as ‘intimate’. It’s small, square and dominated by an eight-seater table where an ingenious Dutch shuffleboard (Sjoellen) can be placed. A huge, backlit timber map of the country marked with brewery locations hangs from the ceiling, while a mural along one side of the bar was created on the Isle of Mull by Andy’s uncle, a retired architect. The building that the bar occupies is included in the illustration — all but indistinguishable from its neighbours, which delights Andy no end. Whitley upon Dam.

“It’s amazing,” he says. “You’ve only just got to look up at buildings to see the similarities, but of course, people don’t look up.”

Influences for Café Amsterdam come from Brewery ’t IJ, a craft brewery tap, along with Uiltje Bar in Haarlem and Proeflokaal Arendsnest (Eagle’s Nest), an absolute institution of Dutch craft beer, serving only ales brewed in the Netherlands. 

Andy says: “This is where we first drank beer created by the legendary brewer Tommie Sjef and instantly fell in love with it — shared with an American guy while checking the Premier League football results. 

“Get a stool at the bar, watch the waiters as they work, eat cheese and try to work out what the hell to drink next.

“Some of the brewers who are supplying us are so new they’re hardly known in The Netherlands and they’re always surprised we’re contacting them from the North East to buy their beers. It’s the same with authentic Dutch food such as specialty cheeses, bitterballen (breaded and fried meatballs) served with mustard and amazing coffee.

“Fitzgerald’s had the first half of my career so now in the second half I’m doing something for myself. I looked at this place maybe half-a-dozen times as well as other properties but kept coming back to it for some reason. Whitley Bay is where I’m from and where I live so it’s good to be part of the community. 

“Dutch bars and cafes are all about community — they’re functional and were originally based around where people worked, like docks and factories, so they’re steeped in tradition. You wouldn’t believe how many Dutch people live in Whitley Bay and North Tyneside, judging by the messages we’ve been getting.”

One full-time member of staff and a part-timer share the bar work. Some customers assume Andy’s assistant Patricia Sahova’s attractively accented English is Dutch but in fact she’s from Slovakia (via The Bodega). And lovely and efficient with it.

“Today’s beer marketing needs a USP,” he says. “For instance, The Dog & Rabbit in Whitley Bay is very cask heavy and it’s great. I wanted to give the Dutch some exposure, but I thought ‘someone else is going to see this (as an opportunity) and move in’. It was a bit of fate and a bit of karma.”

Another Netherlands bar that influenced Café Amsterdam is Foeders which Andy Hickson reckons should be an instant hit with anyone who loves beer and appreciates hospitality. 

British boozers are still the envy of the world, but in continental café culture the pace is much more relaxed. You don’t feel as if you have to chuck six pints down your neck.

Andy Hickson, Cafe Amsterdam

“It’s a proper neighbourhood bar, a little way out of the city centre, but oh to have this place as your local.”

Café Amsterdam, Whitley Bay, oh to have this place as your local. Find it at 69 Victoria Terrace, NE26 2QN.