Argos

About this place Argos

Argos was founded in 1969 on Warmoesstraat — the year of Stonewall, in a city that was already tolerating gay venues before New York's police raids. It is widely recognised as one of the oldest leather bars in Europe and certainly the oldest in the Netherlands. The three-floor venue on Warmoesstraat is the centrepiece of Amsterdam's leather quarter: a proper dress-code venue (leather, rubber, uniform, or fetish wear required on its themed nights) with a darkroom, an atmospheric bar space on the first floor, and a serious commitment to the leather and fetish community's specific social codes. Argos is not a tourist attraction in the way that Café 't Mandje is — it is a functioning community venue for men who understand what it represents. During Leather Pride week in October, Argos is the spiritual centre of the Amsterdam fetish scene: its parties are among the most important events of the week. For visitors who are part of the leather or fetish community, a visit to Argos is not optional — it is the reason to be in Amsterdam in October.