Red Light District
The Bulldog The First
The original Bulldog address on Oudezijds Voorburgwal, rooted in the brand's 1975 beginnings and still its most history-heavy Amsterdam stop.
Amsterdam brand guide
The Bulldog
One of the defining names in Amsterdam coffeeshop history, founded by Henk de Vries in 1975 and now spanning five distinct coffeeshops across the city.
Brand story
An Amsterdam original since 1975
The Bulldog is woven into the story of Amsterdam coffeeshop culture. Henk de Vries founded the name in 1975 around a simple idea: create a relaxed living-room setting where people could sit, talk and smoke away from the harder edge of the streets around them. The original location on Oudezijds Voorburgwal became The First, and the Bulldog identity grew from there.
What makes the Amsterdam family interesting today is that the five coffeeshops are not copies of one another. The First carries the origin story in the Red Light District. Energy turns the formula into a darker, high-tempo 1990s throwback. Rockshop leans into classic-rock memorabilia near Haarlemmerstraat. Ex-Police Station puts the brand inside the former police complex at Leidseplein. Port takes the same name out to Westpoort for a much quieter waterside setting.
Around those coffeeshops sits a much wider Bulldog world of bars, a hotel and brand stores, which helps explain why the bulldog logo has become such a visible part of Amsterdam. For Clouded, the useful way to approach the brand is location by location: the history is shared, but the atmosphere changes considerably depending on which door you walk through.
From the archive
Five views of a city icon
Five-location family
Five coffeeshops, one Amsterdam family
Each location keeps its own setting and pace, with The First as the family’s historic anchor.
View location
Red Light District
The Bulldog Energy
A darker, high-tempo Bulldog branch in the Red Light District, built around a cave-like 1990s interior, music and canal-side terrace.
Haarlemmerbuurt
The Bulldog Rockshop
A compact Bulldog coffeeshop near Haarlemmerstraat, built around classic-rock memorabilia and a more intimate atmosphere than the central flagships.
Leidseplein
The Bulldog Ex-Police Station
A former police-station coffeeshop on Leidseplein, opened by The Bulldog in 1985 with the building's history still central to the experience.
Westpoort
The Bulldog Port
The outlier in the Bulldog family: a quieter Westpoort coffeeshop beside Amsterdam's harbour, away from the city-centre crowds.
Location map
Across Amsterdam
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Which location?
Choose by neighbourhood and pace
The Bulldog The First
The First is where The Bulldog story begins. Henk de Vries opened the original location on Oudezijds Voorburgwal in 1975, building it around the idea of a relaxed living room rather than a hard-edged street scene.
The Bulldog Energy
Energy is the Bulldog branch for people who want the brand at its most theatrical. Opened in 1992, it trades the familiar leather-and-brick Bulldog look for a cave-like interior of timber, coloured lighting, troll figures and a soundtrack rooted in house and techno.
The Bulldog Rockshop
Rockshop is one of the easier Bulldog locations to underestimate. Opened in 1993, it sits close to Central Station and Haarlemmerstraat but feels smaller and more contained than the brand's better-known Red Light District and Leidseplein locations.
The Bulldog Ex-Police Station
The Bulldog Ex-Police Station is one of those Amsterdam venues where the building does most of the explaining. The coffeeshop sits in the former police complex on Leidseplein, and The Bulldog opened it on April Fools' Day in 1985 as a deliberate piece of theatre after years of clashes with the authorities.
The Bulldog Port
Port is the Bulldog location that makes the most sense once you stop thinking of the brand as a purely city-centre institution. It opened in 2015 after The Bulldog moved a coffeeshop licence out of central Amsterdam as part of the city's effort to spread coffeeshops more evenly.
Good to know
Plan the right stop
The Bulldog The First
This is the history stop
The First is the original Bulldog address from 1975, so choose this branch when the brand story matters as much as the location.
The Bulldog The First
Look around before you leave
The walls carry decades of photographs, messages and memorabilia, so the room itself is part of the experience.
The Bulldog Energy
The terrace changes it completely
From March to November, the canal-side terrace gives Energy a much calmer daytime side than the cave-like interior suggests.
The Bulldog Energy
Food can come from next door
Guests on the Energy patio can order food from The Bulldog Hotel next door, making this one of the easier Bulldog stops to settle into.
The Bulldog Rockshop
Best for a smaller Bulldog feel
Rockshop is more intimate than the better-known central branches, with classic-rock memorabilia and a compact layout.