New in Brussels: Ironing service
Published on
by Roel Hoenders
All those, especially male, young professionals in Brussels have one thing in common. This is the weekly pain of having to iron your shirts in a decent way. The many lobby activities going on in the EU environment require you to look smartly dressed at all time. Not only during working hours but shirts still have to look spotless and unwrinkled as of 18.
00h when you have to start ‘networking’ at Place du Luxembourg or at one of the many receptions taking place every evening.
For all of those persons who are every weak facing a huge pile of shirts which urgently need to be ironed, Brussels has since April 2007 a unique ironing service. For this great initiative you pay with the so called ‘service cheques’. This is a Belgian fiscal deductible means of payment for citizens to call on all kinds of special household help. The good thing about these service cheques is that it provides the staff you hire a full legal status. In this way the Belgian government tries to get around all those cleaning ladies being paid in black and who cannot claim any social benefits. The Belgian government tried to overcome this by offering these attractive ‘tax deductible labour vouchers’. Citizens can still hire relatively cheap labour but in a fully legal way so that employees can also safe for pensions or other social schemes.
Since April 2007 these service cheques can also be used for getting over that always rising stack of shirts. Contrary to a normal dry cleaner you pay per hour in stead of per shirt. And one hour of ironing only costs € 4,69. There is even a pick-up and delivery service passing by at home or at your office. If this is not convenient enough for you, they also have a ‘drive-in’ at the location so you don’t even have to get out of the car when dropping of your laundry!
You can find the ironing service at Huidevettersstraat 62 Rue des Tanneurs (just between Kapellekerk - Place de la Chapelle and Vossenplein - Place du Jeu de Balle). More information can be found here.