Laundry & ironing service in Vlaardingen

Vlaardingen was for centuries the herring city of the Netherlands. From the seventeenth century the herring fleet grew into the largest in the world — and held that position well into the twentieth century as the country's third-largest fishing harbour. On 11 June 1870 six new fishing vessels were launched in a single day from three different yards in Vlaardingen. It marked the start of the last great heyday of the Vlaardingen sea fishery, with the specially designed lugger as workhorse.

Such a fleet ran on more than seamen. In the harbour lay not just dozens of luggers — there were also herring warehouses, shipyards and a whole ring of skilled trades. Women called 'boetsters' repaired the nets outside in fields or in workshops, before they went back on board. Sailmakers, ropemakers, smiths and merchant families — all lived off the herring. And the laundry? That was done at home by the families, boiled in large iron kettles, because every fisherman needed clean clothes again as soon as he came back from sea.

In 1964 the last great herring expedition left Vlaardingen — with nine luggers. That ended four centuries of tradition. But the city has not let its past slip away: Museum Vlaardingen tells the herring story, and Flag Day still draws large crowds every year. The print above, from 1904, shows the return of the herring catch as every Vlaardinger saw it for generations.

The fishing past is gone, the work is not. Today Vlaardingen is a working city with a large commuter population, harbours full of inland shipping and industry, and families with little rest between 9 and 5. We run set pickup days through the city — centre, Holy, Vlaardinger Ambacht, Broekpolder. Your bag goes along in the morning, and comes back in the evening clean and ironed at your door. Same driver, same time, every week — a rhythm a herring city once knew too.