‘Paper Dog’, Veszprém / Streetscape Development Programme
We want to fulfil an old dream of Veszprém inhabitants that the road leading to the Castle, the Old Town Square and its neighbourhood be not only filled with life for the sake of an event.
Recognizing that individual developments will not work in this part of the city, VEB2023 launched the Streetscape Development Programme to contribute to improving the milieu and filling this area with life. The intent is to provide shops that have been vacant in the city centre for years, with functions missing from the city and which would help Veszprém become a European destination. We dream of galleries, cafés and bookstores frequented by locals and visitors alike.
In February 2019, as the first step of the programme, the 'Paper Dog' opened on the site of the former Veranda café in Szabadság tér (Liberty Square). The operators of the cultural bistro were selected by tender in 2019. The winning applicants would contract to be open seven days a week, offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including vegetarian dishes and stay open until 11 p.m. Also, the owners must play host to ECOC cultural programmes and organize concerts and exhibitions themselves as well.
"The much-talked-about Veranda was a home furnishings store, eventually supplemented by a café. About two years ago, the owners decided to close it, and since then, the space has been vacant and bare. Attila Pék and Bernadett Rétfalvi moved into the neighbourhood from Budapest three years ago. They soon had their eye on the house at Szabadság tér. They were immediately thinking of opening a restaurant there, but 'the rent would have been quite stiff for a start-up', frowns Bernadett.
Interestingly enough, it was the ECOC 2023 team that finally swooped down on the business premises – in the framework of the Streetscape Development Programme– and before a second-class bakery would have opened, the ECOC issued a public tender to operate the premise. According to Bernadett, ECOC's goal was to "create a business here that can be an official event venue of the VEB2023. The ECOC organizers ran an open tender, and "we were able to show our previous Budapest catering experience and professionality." (Snail Café, Office, Swallows)."
