2023-11-19 15:26:57
Bordeaux has its City of Wine, Dijon, its City of Gastronomy, the North will soon have its own, dedicated to beer. She finally settled in Bailleul, in the heart of Flanders, between Lille and Dunkirk. The decision was announced on Friday by the Hauts-de-France regional council which was leading the call for applications. A look back at a project that has been revised downwards and which still remains a little vague.
“It’s an old idea brought up to date,” said Julien Macrelle, president of the independent brewers’ union, as the information site explains Media who carried out a survey on the subject.
Beer, the best-selling alcohol in France
Announced in 2019 by regional president (LR) Xavier Bertrand, this idea of a City of Beer had something logical in terms of tourism, when beer became the most sold alcohol in supermarkets, dethroning for several years the wine. In 2022, it represented 52% of sales In France. However, for the moment, the project has generated more air than concrete funding.
This is also why the metropolis of Lille and many other local authorities did not wish to take part in the call for projects launched last year. Only four territories had come forward in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais. The town of Béthune, which had nevertheless mentioned a similar project before Xavier Bertrand’s announcement, for example, abstained.
At the end of a process by elimination, it was therefore the community of municipalities of inland Flanders which was selected. La Cité will see the light of day in Bailleul, in an industrial wasteland: the old and majestic Nordlys spinning mill, which dates from 1864 and which closed its doors in 1988.
Historical hop cultivation
“This is an exceptional and emblematic heritage”, underlined César Storet, president of the interior Flanders tourist office in 20 Minutes. But the major argument deployed by the winning territory is the presence, in the sector, of the 3 Monts brewery, a real heavyweight in the regional brewing industry. The other advantage is that Flanders is also the bastion of the historical culture of hops, the emblematic plant of beer. All the more emblematic with the rise of IPAs and their bitterness brought precisely by hops.
“This natural identity, the candidacy of Inner Flanders was able to transcend it in the service of a project of economic and tourist influence on a regional but also national scale,” reports the Hauts-de-France region, in a press release. This ambitious project promises to be a showcase and an opportunity for the development of our brewing industry, our heritage and our identity. »
A beer route
Depending on the region, the selected site will be arranged with an exhibition space, discovery areas (workshops, beer library, microbreweries, etc.), festive and catering areas. The idea is of course to attract tourists around a beer route which will have the choice between 14 breweries located in the area. But not only. This road is also intended to cross other parts of the region.
And this is where the shoe might hurt. The Bailleul project costs 20 million euros and the territory will aim to make the investment profitable by attracting tourism. “The risk is to create a tool for territorial development and not a tool for promoting the sector,” notes Nicolas Lescieux, co-founder of L’Echappée Bière, a Lille label which offers activities around beer. The City of Beer should see the light of day by 2025 or 2026.
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