Braine l'Alleud is a small town in Belgium to the south of Brussels. You can easily reach the town by train (a direct train takes about 15 minutes from Bruxelles Central/Brussel Centraal. It has some excellent pubs.

This list is by no means complete, it is just meant to give you a taster of this sleepy little town. all these pubs are situated around the Place du Môle and the Grand Place. The best way to get there is by walking from the station because:

• It's illegal to drink and drive in Belgium, and you're over the limit if you drink more than one glass of anything.

• The centre of the town is full of one-way streets and explaining the route is a fiendishly difficult task.

• The car parks are all quite expensive.

Pubs

Le Brabançon can be found on the Grand Place, it has tables outside in the summer. The name refers to the name of a horse that can be found on the bottles of Palm beer.

The Hill is on Place du Môle. It is quite small and gets crowded quickly. There's tables outside this one in the summer too.

La Chaumière is next door to The Hill. It is also quite small. Outside tables in the summer is a feature of this bar too.

Le Saint-Germain can be found in a side street leading back from the Place du Môle to the station, opposite a huge car park¹. It is also a rather small pub. It serves Palm beer in both 25cl glasses, and 33cl glasses.