A story spanning 30 years

LCircus will never open its doors again... Everyone is shocked. Christophe, Stéphane and Olivier, students at Solvay et La Cambre, are determined to let their all-nighters continue.
They come up with an idea that isn't as crazy as it sounds. On Thursday evenings, the basement of their digs at the avenue Emile de Beco in Brussels becomes party central… As one door closes, another one opens!

Never before have a bar and club in digs been this successful. The proof is in the pudding. Harrassed by the police for noise nuisance and illegal parking, their landlord begs them to find a different playground. And because life has treated them well, the three have no trouble finding a bigger and better location. From now on, our Thursday evenings will set the Bois de la Cambre alight. From Jeudis Verts (Green Thursdays)... Jeudis Verres (Thursday glasses)… and Je 10 Verres (I 10 glasses)… We finally settle on Jeux d’Hiver!

Soon, we are meeting up several times a week. One evening, we dress up as pimps and whores. The next, we try to find our soulmate based on our star sign. Why not? We go wild for different types of music, switching between golden oldies of the 70s and 80s, and hits from the 90s. You Make Me Feel, Le Cactus, Le Soleil, Cuba, Ritmo De La Noche, I’m Too Sexy… The DJ plays music from the Big Blue - a final slow dance before bed. We also record Toi et Moi, an ode to our bouncers, who are part of the Jeux d'Hiver woodwork.

Just like you used to go out in a lumberjack shirt and a sweater tied around your shoulders, Jeux d’Hiver has also changed its look over the years. At first, it was just the back room of a restaurant. Rudy Bogaerts even taught his pupils there. The tasteless interior was just as much par for the course as the sweat pooling on your forehead... We made improvements as soon as we could. Starting with the colonial style Bar Carré, a mythical location because of its tragic fate...

We only ever pulled one all-nighter... so we could set the night on fire at the Hippodrome in Groenendael for a concert of Sister Sledge! We Are Family, no doubt about it... totally Lost In Music. The same year, we pimped the back of Jeux d'Hiver. Who remembers our spinning dance floor, our covered patio kitted out in white wood, and the circular bar that served the best cheese toasties and steak tartare on toast in town?