The village centre of Sint-Joris developed at the intersection of Dorpsstraat (now Lattenklieverstraat) and Kauter, with the canal that is of great importance to the history of the municipality. This waterway was widened and deepened numerous times and had its impact on the architectural heritage of Sint-Joris. With each widening, part of the old village centre had to disappear.
A building that has been part of an important village view for many decades is the current café De Brug, which has quite a history behind it.
In the black and white photo from 1935, we see immediately behind the bridge the inn “Het Merctschippershuis” of Franciscus and his son Edmond Van Zeveren (born in Sint-Joris on 4 April 1861), the last market skippers who sailed to Bruges. Franciscus van Zeveren will forever be associated with the canal and the barges. On 8 October 1861, he bought two market ships for 4025 francs. They bore the names ‘Charles’ and ‘Clara’. With the help of his wife, his two daughters and son Edmond, they ran the two barges and café Het Schippershuis. The barges were pulled along the towpath by people or horses. The barge service was already established around 1623. From 1650, a market ship sailed to Bruges every week, from Knesselare (Hoekestraat). Franciscus van Zeveren continued to run the barges and his café until 1911. After that, the barges were idle. Edmond continued to run the café. Het Schippershuis was a successful business where many lath splitters and employees of the Lemahieu sawmill came by. The employees of Lemahieu were paid their wages every Sunday morning in café Het Schippershuis. Immediately the temptation was great to spend part of the wages in the café.
The name of this inn “Het Merctschippershuis” was successively changed to “café en spijshuis ’t Schippershuis”, café “Rivièra” and then since 1988 “café De Brug”. The inn was badly damaged during the Second World War as a result of the bridge blowing up, later demolished and then rebuilt. Many proprietors stood at the tap over the years.
It is still a well-run pub, excellently situated on the banks of the canal. For many recreational cyclists it is a nice stopover along the Flanders cycle route.