The Gambrinus Beerhouse

The Gambrinus beerhouse is one of the landmarks of Romanias capital Bucharest. The place literally became famous thanks to the great Romanian playwright Ion Luca Caragiales short stories. It is located in an area dense with restaurants, pubs and cafeter

Christine Leșcu, 18.05.2013, 17:51

The Gambrinus beerhouse used to gather the entire bohemia of Bucharest and not only. It was the perfect place for a perceptive writer like Ion Luca Caragiale to observe the Bucharesters’ typical habits and ridicule them in his short stories. But that was not the only reason why Caragiale included the beerhouse in his writings. He was the owner of Gambrinus for a couple of years, when in urban Romania beer consumption was growing by the day. The historian Dan Falcan with the History Museum in Bucharest will now be introducing us into the atmosphere of that time.

Dan Falcan: ”Romanians have started drinking beer quite recently, as they usually drank wine and plum brandy. It was not until the second half of the 19th century, after the period between 1860 and 1870, that the beer drinking habit gained ground in Romania. The most famous place for drinking beer in Bucharest was Carul cu Bere- in English the Beer Wagon Pub, which at the time was owned by two brothers from Transylvania. In late 19th century the Gambrinus beerhouse was located right near the National Theater, which was built in 1852. Today in its place there stands the main building of a private TV station. The Gambrinus beerhouse was the favorite place of the actors of the National Theater. Across the beerhouse there was the “Timpul” newspaper’s editorial office, where great classical Romanian writers, such as the poet Mihai Eminescu and the playwright Ion Luca Caragiale worked. “

It was not Caragiale’s first attempt to turn a pub into a moneymaking business. Yet he never succeeded. However, he never gave up his passion for being owner of beerhouses or restaurants. He even liked to tend bar. Here is the historian Dan Falcan again with details about when and how Caragiale bought the “Gambrinus” beerhouse:

Dan Falcan: ”Caragiale took it over from the former owner whose identity we don’t know. That was Caragiale’s second attempt to make it in the field. He opened the “Gambrinus” beerhouse in October 1901. Gambrinus had a competitor at the time, the Beer Wagon Pub, which was a hot spot for Bucharesters and which eventually became Bucharest’s top beerhouse and Romania’s most famous one. A bad management will only result in failure, so Gambrinus got in the hands of other people who were better managers and it remained a beerhouse until after WWII, when the Gambrinus brand was transferred to a different location on Elisabeta boulevard in Bucharest. “

The former Gambrinus beerhouse was brought down between the world wars and a block of flats was erected in its stead named Adriatica after the construction company that built it, which still stands today.