Laundry & ironing service in Schiedam

In 1881 Schiedam was the busiest drinking city in Europe. The town then had 392 jenever distilleries — a density found nowhere else. It was the peak of a Golden Age that had begun in the eighteenth century: when French distilled spirits could no longer be imported because of war, Schiedam entrepreneurs jumped into the gap. Within a few decades more than a hundred distilleries ran here, around ninety of them producing for export to overseas markets.

All those distilleries needed malt, and malt needed mills. In the eighteenth century special 'distillers' mills' were built — larger than the standard grain mill, because their sails had to rise above the tall warehouses of the distilleries to catch the wind. At the height of activity, twenty of these giants stood in Schiedam; six are still standing. The print above, from the Rijksmuseum collection, shows the Noordmolen — one of those six still turning today.

The jenever industry also gave Schiedam its less flattering nickname: 'Black Nazareth'. The soot and sulphur from distilling blackened the houses; working conditions were hard and poverty in the workers' districts ran deep. But it gave the city its character — enterprising, sober, not afraid of a hard day's work. In the twentieth century many distilleries vanished, although the people of Schiedam keep the craft alive: Jenever Museum, tastings, small distilleries.

Living in Schiedam still means knowing that enterprising, sober rhythm. Laundry fits in fine. We run set pickup days through the city — centre, Groenoord, Nieuwland, Woudhoek. Your bag goes along in the morning, and comes back in the evening clean and ironed with the same driver. That's how Wastas works in Schiedam — with the efficiency that has always belonged to this city.