Café Coster in Rijnsburg

The Café Coster in Rijnsburg is the site of the very first Flora flower auction in Rijnsburg; Royal FloraHolland is now a multi-million dollar business, a co-operative that has become the pride of Dutch global commerce. Café Coster was owned by my great-grandfather, Herman Coster.  The physical evidence for it has now disappeared.  

I once asked my mother, for what reason I cannot recall, what the history of the name Coster was?  Something to do with the wine trade, she said; maybe French?  She didn’t add anything about a family history of hospitality.  Following the tradition of the day, family names and professions were  passed from generation to generation.  In Leiden, the name Coster was associated with the sale of alcoholic beverages.  There was a store owned by an Egidius Coster, a great-uncle; in the village of Rijnsburg, there was a café owned by my mother’s maternal grandfather.  Café Coster was passed down to my mother’s uncle, another Egidius.  Yes, possibly confusing. 

Other possible confusions: firstly, the modern term ‘coffeeshop’ refers to a retail venue that specialises in substances still illegal in many parts of the world, including here in EnZed.  Secondly, a café doesn’t just sell coffee; though the coffee culture is strong in the Netherlands, a café can sell beer also, and possibly even brew it on site.  Finally, flower co-operatives operate a Dutch style of auction with a clock that counts down to find the bidder’s best price.  

So, there was at the end of the 19th century a tram company that saw profit in running a line from Leiden through to the dunes of the bulb-growers on the bollenstreek, a swathe of perfect tulip-growing sandy soil. Rijnsburg sits beside the tamed Rhine between Leiden and the dunes of Katwijk.  There, the Blue Tram line branched north to Noordwijk at a ‘splitsing’. The company needed a ‘tram-stop’ here and put up a shelter.  It was an ideal spot for a beer, coffee and appeltart business. My great-grandfather took up a licence and settled in to start his family, hitching his fortune to those two icons of Dutch culture, coffee and flowers. The place was so pretty that artists would arrive in the season just to paint the surrounding fields!

The splitsing in Rijnsburg where the tram line from Leiden split to Katwijk and Noordwijk. Photo: Piet Kralt, Bloemenveiling Flora 75jaar (Rijnsburg 1989)

Rijnsburg was known as a protestant town. Historically the population was of the non-dogmatic sort, though protestant rivalries did exist here.  While alcohol has never formally been prohibited, it seems that the Netherlands did not entirely escape the definition of being dry – I'm told there were dry enclaves everywhere in the early 1900s.  Possibly no-one in Rijnsburg was willing to step into the hospitality business, but the Costers were Roman Catholics from Leiden, so maybe that was tolerable.  Cheers, then, to a profitable and happily-located café.

By 1913-14, the local growers (‘kwekers’) had hit upon the idea of a joint approach to flower sales.  Perhaps the kwekers overlooked temperance values in favour of competitive financial advantage.  The café was a choice spot where buyers from near and far and local sellers could easily meet.  The publican seemed friendly enough!  Would he help? Thus was born an auction in a café. 

Inconveniently, the tram company decided to sell the site. Times were tough. Herman Coster could buy the site; but the business case had to stack up.  If Herman couldn’t keep the place, the new-born auction would be out on the street too. Without the commitment of his customers, Herman might never have taken the risk.  Without the support of the publican, the kwekers might have lost their sales advantage.  In entrepreneurial spirit, Herman bought and built. 

Café Coster in Rijnsburg. Photo: Family album.

Conveniently for the business, and perhaps to the delight of Herman’s four daughters, from 1914 mobilised Dutch soldiers were stationed in barracks in the neighbouring village of Valkenburg.  There must have been a lot of down time; Herman installed a pool table, clearly an additional business attraction.  

Inside Café Coster, 1914.  Posters of the Flora auction on the wall; soldiers with pool cues; Herman with his beret at back.

The mutually-beneficial arrangement with the growers lasted until success outgrew the venue.  Even when a purpose-built auction shed was established over the street, Herman kept his stake in the flower-selling business until well into the 1920s. 

Herman Coster, studio portrait.

One of those soldiers married one of Herman’s daughters, my Oma. There was a lot of family  traffic between Leiden and Rijnsburg during the 20s and 30s.  My mother recalls visiting often, by bike or tram.

Herman passed away during the Nazi occupation of the 1940s, and Café Coster became the responsibility of one of his sons. A hospitality business would have been difficult to maintain at that time.  In an  environment where social trust had broken down, where suspicion rested on anyone that was not part of your church or social circle, perhaps it was no surprise that the Café Coster folded.  The final straw could easily have been the Hongerwinter, the Hunger Winter; a café could only have been a dream when everyone was starving. 

Mum told me her uncle (Egidius, or Gideon Coster) “liked the products of the café too much”, hence it’s demise. I thought this might have been an over-dramatisation on her part. Mum was inclined to easy judgement.  At a recent family reunion, I asked about this story.  My relatives agreed. Yes, indeed; a café business can fall apart when the owner’s habits undermine the cash flow.  A family trope, perhaps?  It’s difficult to know for sure.  The delight of a family get-together last winter was not just in reuniting relatives (or meeting them for the first time) – it’s also in the sharing of photos and stories that endure. So I’m repeating this one here.  I can find no record of what happened to Gideon.

The complex of the Bloemenveiling Royal FloraHolland is a huge transport station for flower trucks. Inside, floral trains move from a seller's station to a buyer's one. Even without the theatre of a giant clock going backwards, an auctioneer and a bank of buyers (it's all electronic these days) it's worth a visit!

The site of Café Coster is now a modern set of apartments.  Nothing to see here. Not even a plaque. Oh well.