Huig Molenaar
Former fish vendor Huig Molenaar ran his stall on the Hoogovens site for more than twenty years. What began as a wooden shack grew into a meeting place for workers, drivers and visitors — known as Huig’s Fish Palace, but soon also as Huig’s Talking House.
“I’m Huig Molenaar. I’ve worked in fish all my life, mainly selling herring on the beach in Zandvoort. In 1973 I bought the business at Hoogovens, at Gate Rooswijk, from Kor Lubach. I worked there for 21 years, with great pleasure. What still stands there today makes me a little proud. It took enormous effort to build something proper — with sewage, electricity and gas. Facilities that simply weren’t there before.”
“In those years I worked with Jack Visser, my right-hand man. Eighteen years together. A good man — we’re still in touch. We worked incredibly hard, but we also had an incredible amount of fun.
What I loved most about Hoogovens: there were no ranks or classes. A man blackened from dirty work stood next to someone from ‘behind the golden gates’ of management, and when they wanted herring, they all ate it the same way — with their hands. Distinction didn’t exist there.”
“Our busiest days were during the new herring season. Back then, fish was ‘meat for the poor’. People took fish home on Fridays. Now it has become a luxury — and sometimes, I think, we’ve forgotten what really tastes good.”
“At my peak I sold four hundred sandwiches a day. Just sandwiches — not even counting fried fish or salads. First I worked two years in the old stall, then we expanded.”
“Hoogovens was a man’s world. When my wife came to help on Fridays, it became theatre. She could keep them in line too. If someone walked in bluntly saying, ‘Two pan herrings,’ they’d first get a ‘good morning.’”
“My place became known as Huig’s Fish Palace, but the men quickly started calling it Huig’s Talking House. Everyone came by — drivers, welders, men from inside and outside the site. They came to eat, but also to talk. About work, about strikes, about what was going on.”
“I stopped in 1994. Later, the news around Tata became increasingly negative. If you’ve had 21 good years and made your living there, that hurts. At its core, it’s a beautiful company with a unique product worldwide. It kept the entire region working — from drivers to fishermen, from contractors to cafés.”
“But still: I live beautifully now, in Zandvoort. And when I look at the horizon with a northeast wind, and I see a yellowish plume drifting by… I think of my seven grandchildren.
With all due respect — I’d rather have them here on the beach than in Wijk aan Zee.”
“What do I stand for? Being honest, straightforward. Agreements are agreements. But don’t take life too seriously — we all go eventually.
I’ve earned my living with these two hands. And I still do, really: working, building, making something. That brings joy. The rest is just decoration.”
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