Spent a bit of time in the Old Church last week and was chatting to Dylan, the owners son.

The Old Church will cease operating as a coffee shop following New Years Eve. They will be gutting out the existing premises and doing a complete refit on both floors. It will reopen as a bar in February and the good news is that you will be able to smoke your gear here.

The other great news is that they have done a deal on the former Rokerij premises on Amstel, across from Muntplein and have been given permission to transfer their existing coffeeshop licence to that property. This will reopen in February as the Old Church 2 Coffeeshop. In the old Rokerij the weed counter was down in the.basement beside the toilets. The refit will include a relocation of the weed counter to the ground floor. I diplomatically mentioned to Dylan that he needed to move the menu in the new coffeeshop up a few notches to cater for the more serious smoker and I think he understands that himself so will be interesting to check out this new shop when it opens!

 It's a clever deal for the Old Church as the new premises occupy a great location just outside the 1012 postcode and therefore removes it from Project 1012.

The Old Church was the first ever coffeeshop I visited way back on my first visit to the city in November 1984 and I've spent many happy times there over the intervening years. So somewhat of an end of an era and yet another change in these changing times.

Very good news. Thanks for posting. Will look forward to having a drink at the Old Church in 2013.

I was surprised to see the Old Church open this evening. I walked in and had a quick chat... was told that because they don't yet have the license for the new place, they're still around in this location for a bit longer. I really didn't understand at all to be honest. But as of today, they're still open, still selling weed. I noticed all the barstools were gone but things look about the same otherwise.

I stopped in The Old Church tonight to get an update. Current plans are they will continue to operate in their current location until June 1, 2013, after which they will be moving their coffeeshop operation into the space formerly occupied by The Rokerij (near the Muntplein). The current location will be refurbished and become a tapas bar with a license to serve beer and wine but not hard liquor. I joked and said, well, I hope it's better than the kebab shop next door... they said, oh no, we'll be serving good food! :-)

Just a quick note to confirm that The Old Church has now opened in what was the former Rokerij coffeeshop on Amstel just across from Muntplein.

The owner of the building is currently doing works to the front facade so there is heavy scaffolding erected which makes it hard to spot whether it's open or not but that should be removed by the end of this month.

Tonny had shown me photos of the fitout back in March when I was chatting to her in the former Old Church and as impressive as those were it looks even better in the flesh. It's a very smart chic fitout different from anything I've seen in my travels round the coffeeshops.

Improved menu but still sold in pre weighed bags.