Coffee goers to Mombasa cafe must henceforth pay extra to turn on the patio heater, reports the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. By inserting a 20 cent coin into a special payment terminal, the heater turns on for 10 minutes. Terrace-goers have always been able to get the heat going in this bar themselves, but now it comes at a price.
Only positive reactions
The Antwerp café says it receives only positive reactions for the time being. Customers understand that the measure is a result of the enormous increase in energy prices.
The newspaper spoke, among other things, to some regulars, who are happy to pay that amount. “If necessary, we are certainly willing to pay for it. We are smokers, so we almost always sit outside.”
‘Stop heating the outside air’
Previously, Rens van Tilburg, economist and director of Utrecht University’s Sustainable Finance Lab, advocated for a legal ban on patio heating in winter. “We only have a problem with the amount of gas we have available, so we will have to reduce its use. Stopping heating the outside air is therefore the smallest sacrifice that can be made.”
