Amsterdam orders bakery La Panetteria to stop selling coffee, sandwiches
The municipality of Amsterdam has ordered the La Panetteria bakery on the Singel canal to stop selling coffee and sandwiches for immediate consumption after locals complained that the bakery was acting like a tourist cafe. According to the municipality, the bakery is violating the Inner City Environmental Plan, the General Local Bylaws, and the Building Code, Parool reports.
La Panetteria, located at Singel 348 in the Negen Straatjes neighborhood, has a retail permit, allowing it to sell pre-packaged products for takeaway. Preparing food or drinks on-site and consuming them on-site are not permitted. City inspectors found customers eating sandwiches and drinking coffee at tables in the bakery. The bakery also had catering equipment, menu boards, and freshly prepared food inside.
According to Parool, the municipality ordered La Panetteria to remove all catering signs, cease the sale of products for immediate consumption, and submit a plan detailing how it intends to stick to the requirements of its retail permit within six weeks of the July 18 notice, or face closure.
Remarkably, the decision is the direct result of an enforcement request from the d’Oude Stadt community center, the newspaper wrote. The community center has been fighting against the commercialization of the city center for years. “We found that this was a tourist establishment and that is prohibited in this location,” Dingeman Coumou of the community center told Parool. “As far as we know, this is the first time a report from us has actually led to enforcement.” Coumou said he will “look into which other stores are eligible for this approach.”
The action against La Panetteria fits within the broader policy the municipality has been following since 2017 to make the city center less dependent on mass tourism. The new environmental plan prohibits tourist shops in many streets, and the municipality is taking stricter actions against businesses catering to tourists without the proper permits.
This is also not the first time that locals have pushed the city to act against tourist-popular businesses in the Negen Straatjes neighborhood. Earlier this year, a group of locals sued the city, demanding that it act against the popular snack bar Fabel Friet on Runstraat. They complained about crowds of tourists blocking the sidewalk and leaving behind litter, among other things. Coumou was also involved in that lawsuit.
