The narrow Rode Leeuwstraat lies between Brouwersgracht and Spijkermakersstraat, and is so tight in places that walking side by side can be difficult.
The lane takes its name from De Rode Leeuw, a brewery founded on the site in 1643. It was the second brewery in The Hague.
The beer was sold on through The Hague’s beer trade, though no record survives of what type was brewed there.
From Kuiperstraat to Rode Leeuwstraat
The street did not always have its current name: until 1922, it was called Kuiperstraat, after the cooperage attached to the brewery.
A cooper made and repaired wooden barrels, which were essential to the beer trade. Brouwersgracht nearby also recalls those brewing years.
The brewery stood empty for years before it was pulled down in 1850. Townhouses went up on the site, and those have since gone too.
A surviving brewery marker
Anyone walking down the lane today sees nothing of the original brewery, but the stone from its facade has survived.
It shows a red lion on a gold background and now sits at Prinsegracht 50.
