Leeuwarden terrace rules: Nieuwestad bars push back on plan

The new Leeuwarden terrace rules for the Nieuwestad, Peperstraat and Sint Jacobsstraat are now with the city council, and the hospitality businesses along the canal are not happy. Owners are critical, the Leeuwarder Courant reported on Thursday under the headline quote 'a worrying situation'. A day earlier they addressed councillors at ROAST, on the Nieuwestad.

The Leeuwarden terrace rules are set out in a design-quality plan for terraces dated July 2026, which the city executive has put to the council for a decision, trade association KHN reported. A separate plan decides where terraces go and how big they are; this one covers how they look.

What the Leeuwarden terrace rules change

For us, the quality of the city centre lies in the view of the facades.

Terrace screens must be made entirely of safety glass, no higher than 1.50 metres. Each terrace may have no more than two, set at right angles to the facade; screens running parallel to a footpath, on street corners and on terrace boats are not allowed. Parasols can be no taller than 3.50 metres, in muted, matt earth or grey tones, with no primary colours. Picnic tables, lounge sofas and scaffold-plank benches go and furniture has to be taken inside at closing time, winter included.

There are some relaxations too. On the pijpen, the vaulted sections over the canal, parasols will be allowed, and the municipality will fit its own glass screen there at railing height.

In the plan the municipality calls the current picture cluttered and boxed-in: more screens, more parasols and bigger terraces block the view of the historic facades and free passage, including the 4.5 metres emergency services need. 'For us, the quality of the city centre lies in the view of the facades,' alderman Evert Stellingwerf told Omrop Fryslân in September.

Owners fear for turnover and safety

Owners told Omrop Fryslân then that they felt ignored. Erwin van der Meulen of Thai bij Jai, who also runs a terrace on the Pijp, cannot keep his picnic tables and is unsure whether he will still turn over enough. 'The terrace screens provide safety,' he said, pointing to fatbikes and delivery traffic. Vincent Posthumus of brasserie Spiegelaar has to give up part of his terrace for a footpath along the canal and said he could then no longer guarantee the safety of guests and staff.

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The council still has to vote on the Leeuwarden terrace rules. Meanwhile the street gets new paving and more greenery, mostly finished before summer, according to Omrop Fryslân. Whoever runs a terrace there by then will at least do so under a parasol in a muted colour.