The story of Hotel – Café ‘t Anker began in the early 1960s as a modest café business but quickly grew into a cozy hotel-café with no less than 22 rooms and 60 beds.

Jappie and Carla van der Leij bought a property in Leeuwarden in the 1960s after their first café business on Heerestraat had to make way for an expansion of the Friesland Provincial House. They established their new hospitality business, Regina Bar, at Eewal 69, which soon became too small for their growing clientele.

In September 1966, they purchased a second property (number 73). This building was transformed into a regular café, while the other building was converted into a bar-dancing venue. A year later, they took over the pension “Het Centrum” from amateur filmmaker Eeltje Janssen. This marked the beginning of Regina Bar and Hotel – Café ‘t Anker, with 11 simple rooms for around 15 people.

In the early 1980s, they noticed that the popularity of the bar-dancing declined, and the decision was made to end it. They decided to completely rebuild this building into additional hotel space, resulting in an expansion of 6 rooms. Chris, the son of Jaap and Carla, joined the business as a waiter in 1988 and became co-owner of the V.O.F. van der Leij two years later. In 2002, the V.O.F. was converted into Hotel – Café ‘t Anker B.V.

Jaap (now 90), Carla (now 84), and Chris are still part of the business, with Jaap no longer actively involved. They began renovating the first 11 rooms and the café in 1990 under their own management. The goal was to create a modern old-Dutch café with comfortable rooms.

In 1993, an opportunity arose to purchase an adjacent building and expand the hotel with 6 more rooms. These rooms were all equipped with their own shower, toilet, and TV. The demand for hotel rooms continued to grow, so in 2002 they further modernized the hotel. Today, ‘t Anker has 12 standard rooms with private facilities, 11 low-budget rooms with a shared shower and toilet on the floor, a group room for 8 to 16 people, and since 2019, a hostel room for up to 16 people.

At ‘t Anker, we believe in continuous improvement and value for our guests. We aim to offer you the best quality at the lowest prices in Leeuwarden. We are proud that we can still offer excellent value for money in a time when competition from large corporations is fierce for family businesses.

Our digital presence has also improved each year, with an online booking system and one of the fastest WiFi networks for hotels. At ‘t Anker, you are always valued as a guest, and we write ‘you’ with a capital ‘Y’ to emphasize how important you are to us.

Over the years, we have seen that our guests return, not only because of the comfortable rooms and convenient location but also because of the personal touch and the warm atmosphere we offer. In our cozy café space, you can enjoy a variety of local and international drinks while engaging in conversation with both locals and fellow travelers.