"Pintes"

The "historical bars & restaurant" - constitute a real cultural inheritance, as well by their charm, their specific interior as by their social role in the population and their spirit of tradition. With their manner, “Pintes” are guardian of history. They keep it safe in their walls while their owners, often impassioned, evoke it.

At the corner of the “rue de l’Ale”, “La Pinte Besson” is the oldest restaurant of Lausanne. It is ranked at the tenth position in the guide of "cafés historiques et patrimoniaux” and it is the only restaurant of the “Canton de Vaud” who was put at the inventory of the inheritance.

Opened in 1780 by a local wine tradesman, who had just obtained the authorization to sell his own production, the restaurant was called like this because the word “pinte” was a unit of measurement for the wine, 0,931 L.

In 2000, it was planned to refresh the entire area, including the building of the restaurant. Emotionally shocked, the people of Lausanne city refused to see their “Pinte Besson” vanish. The authorities of the “Canton the Vaud” were challenged and decide to strongly preserve this place.

To make it possible, it was decided to find somebody who can take care of this patrimony.

This gentleman is called Carlos Beiro, a Galician who knows Switzerland and Swiss people very well as he owns several restaurants before. During is career, he developed a strong, lightsome and gracious character. It took the time to examine the aspect of all possible customers and to philosophize. The best lesson he learned: fidelity of the customer, fidelity to the customer.



Full history available
only in French (pdf)

Taken from the book “Pintes Vaudoise, un patrimoine en peril”
Published by: Edition d’en bas