Westergas: Attraction in Westerpark, Amsterdam

Westergas is a culture park in Westerpark in Amsterdam, on the site of the former city gasworks. Its 17 industrial buildings now hold a cinema, a brewery, restaurants, a comedy stage and event halls, and it is worth a visit by day or by night, even if you have no plan beyond a walk across the grounds. The tenants set the pace. Het Ketelhuis shows films, Brouwerij Troost brews on site, Fabrique des Lumières runs its immersive shows, and the Comedytrain, WestWeelde and the round Gashouder bring in the evening crowds. There are around 16 places to eat and drink, from Cantine to Eetcafé de Goos, and a Sunday Market fills the site with stalls. The site is largely car-free and about 2 km from Centraal, so around ten minutes by bike. The gasworks were built in 1883 to 1885 for the Imperial Continental Gas Association, with buildings by Isaac Gosschalk in Dutch neo-Renaissance style. The city took over in 1898 and the great gasholder followed in 1903. Gas production stopped in 1967, and artists moved in once the energy company left in the early 1990s. The soil was cleaned up from 2003 as the park took shape. In 2018 Duncan and Lisca Stutterheim, with MILLTEN and Harvest Vastgoed, took over the site and it was renamed Westergas. It now holds B Corp certification. The site is largely car-free, so the bike or public transport is the easy option: by bike it is about ten minutes from Centraal. Bus 21 runs from Centraal to the Van Hallstraat/Westergasfabriek stop, and tram 5 stops there too. Drivers can book a space through Mobian or Q-Park and travel the last part from there.