ALL YOU WANTED TO KNOW, BUT HAD NO ONE TO ASK

Picture: (c) Alejandra Salido

A fakbar. Pronounced by most people like a bar implying the possibility of sexual intercourse upon visiting. Some are disillusioned, some ecstatic, but there is no student who would say no to a 1€ beer served at a faculteitsbar.

Although almost every faculty at K.U. Leuven has its own bar, it is not possible to cover each and every one – at least not on one page. Most of them are situated on Tiensestraat, where our story begins. Selfishly, most of this article will directly or indirectly refer to my favourite HdR (Huis der Rechten), the Law Faculty fakbar.

How do they manage to sell delicious Stella for one euro? There are several factors. Firstly, they are one of the best customers of AB InBev, with HdR alone ordering 20 kegs of beer a day. This lowers the price of beer substantially.  Secondly, as you may guess, the biggest expense when it comes to bars is rent – this is where our lovely university jumps in and pays generously for the fakbars. Sweet, right? Employees are actually volunteers from the respective faculty. Glasses come free from the brewery.

Then where does my one euro go? As in any bar, annual renovations are a must. The money also covers repairs, lighting and promotions. One of my favorite promo deals would have to be the happy hour. In a cluster of fakbars on Tiensestraat, happy hours were (last semester, and hopefully this) as follows: 4-5pm Politika, 5-6 pm HdR, 6-7 pm Pavlov, bringing the price of beer down to 50 euro-cents, while in HdR you can get a meter of Stella (12 beers) for 5€. If you can hold your drink and balance it between grabbing a breath of fresh air and visiting the toilet, chances of getting extremely intoxicated (for not a lot of money) are extremely high.

Are there negative aspects of fakbars? Some people may dislike the crowd. With cheap beer being a students dream, a lot of people swarm to the bars and make it fuller than full. This also implies sweat, stench and other well-known side effects. Some may not be impressed with the lack of liquor, but wine is always an option (also 1€). Serious arguments, brawls and fights are professionally prevented by student stewards, provided by each bar, who stand in front of the bar. The city has its say as well: they provide the portable toilet inviting you not to urinate under someone’s window or decorate the front door with extra beer from your system. The police (those guys and gals in boy scout hats) patrol as well, making sure you behave according to the rules.

Recommended route
For a daily routine, start off at Fakbar Letteren (Blijde Inkomsstraat 11) – I would say around 2 pm. You can find this cute establishment just behind the Central Library. Enter either from the Blijde Inkomststraat or from the Faculty of Arts. Presuming that you are sober, this is a good place to visit because the flyers and posters on the bulletin board are full of useful info about events, films and shows that are organized. Write them down, you are not going to remember it later. Fakbar Letteren always has specials. One of the best times I had there was during Trappisten Week – all trappist beers were on tap and less than 2€.

Just before 4 pm stop by fakbar Politika (Tiensestraat 55). The happy hour is about to begin, and you want to get good spots. Ordering beer in meters is my sincere advice. It eliminates the hassle of going back to the bar each and every time. You and your friends could chip in all your spare change and get at least one meter per person.

At 5 pm go to HdR (Tiensestraat 53). Continue with meters. The best place to drink in HdR is a small room behind the bar. It is secluded but at the same time you have a good view. This may have changed however, because HdR was recently under renovation.

Finish (not the drinking, just the happy hour) with fakbar Pavlov (Tiensestraat 51). Here you have a foosball table and a secret back room. If you are lucky, there will be a cantus going on, and you are in for a treat: watching young Belgians making fools of themselves, while getting extremely drunk.


End your night in Dulci (fakbar Ekonomika, Tiensestraat 77), where you can get specials with energy drinks, highly needed after an extensive fakbar tour. Dulci has a long bar to prop yourself up on and usually it is full of people.

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This article would never have been written without the help of Matthias Verheecke from HdR, and the wonderful people bringing me alcohol at the most needed times.