Our story

The building of the Belga Pub in Debrecen has always served its guests. At the end of the 1800s it operated as an inn, with the rooms on the upper floor. It sometimes happened that when the Posta Restaurant on Széchenyi Street was full and could take no more guests, the arrivals were directed to the inn on Piac Street.

In the early 1900s, Gyula Krúdy himself rented an office on the upper floor while he was writing for the newspaper Debreceni Ellenőr. From the mid-1930s, Sándor Pál took over the running of the building; he signed a contract with Hungary's first brewery, Dreher, and named the place Pál Pub. The restaurant's garden area was already hugely popular by then, as were the excellent dishes, for which the credit went to Mr Pál's wife, the head of the kitchen. On the cellar level, wine still played the leading role at this time, where the cellar master and the winemaker's apprentice expertly tended the flavourful nectar.

Among the guests of the Pál Pub were Debrecen townsfolk, officials, army officers and teachers, so it counted as a truly reputable establishment. After nationalisation, the right to operate it passed to the Hajdú-Bihar County Catering Company, and the former Pál Pub continued from then on under the name Szabadság Restaurant.

Here they cooked for six to eight hundred people a day on a set-menu system, and while the upper floor housed the canteen, on the ground floor à la carte dining naturally took place as well. It was a popular, well-regarded restaurant – alongside the Arany Bika and the Hungária Restaurant – one of the three most renowned establishments in the town centre.

By then live music was already entertaining the guests: while a Gypsy band played on the ground floor, dance music sounded upstairs. On Fridays and Saturdays the place was usually full, and on Sunday mornings „Sunday beer music” played, during which scones or lángos were offered alongside the beer at a discount, and sometimes even for free. In this period a great many coach tour groups arrived in Debrecen, who regularly chose the Szabadság Restaurant as the venue for their lunch.

After this, several changes of operator took place in the building over a short time. One tenant christened it Krúdy Restaurant, which sadly, however, could only operate for a short while. By then the building had fallen into such poor condition that it stood completely empty for around a year and a half to two years.

The building finally became the now well-known Belga Restaurant & Pub on 21 August 2001. The vision that, as in the old days, it should once again be the centre of Debrecen's gastronomy and social life came true, and today it welcomes its guests with a uniquely wide selection of Belgian beers, special dishes and a covered garden area in winter and summer alike. The lower level of the restaurant is made up of several smaller and larger rooms, making it the perfect venue for a beer with friends, an intimate date or any special occasion. On the upper floor, the Belga Boutique Panzió welcomes guests with 9 special, elegant and comfortable rooms.