At the age of 25, Freek Wallagh is often the youngest person in the room. For a long time, this meant that people didn’t take him seriously. But in his role as night mayor (nachtburgemeester), a position he’s held in Amsterdam since March 2023, Wallagh thinks this is an advantage – ‘It’s not a bad thing to be slightly underestimated’, he smiles.

Amsterdam’s first night mayor was appointed in 2003, and since 2014 the night mayorship has been affiliated with Stichting N8BM A’DAM – an independent foundation working with the city council and which is committed to a “lively, diverse and inclusive nightlife”.

Wallagh, a poet, activist and painter who began working as a journalist in the red light district at the age of 15, was shortlisted and elected by a public vote. The position isn’t paid, except for a small “volunteering fee” and is full time, which means for Wallagh, the role of night mayor is really a labour of love.

He grew up in the city’s nightlife, starting his career interviewing partygoers and event-makers, talking with sex workers and DJs, gaining inspiration for his own non-fiction writing and poetry. “The city fascinates me,” he says. “Both as an individual born there and living in Amsterdam, but also as an academic to see how cities see and judge night life.”

It is this that he hopes to have the biggest impact on during his tenure as night mayor; the relationship between the city and nightlife. “We’re often presented with the dichotomy between a city being liveable… and having nightlife… as if the two are at odds,” he says. ‘But a lot of our residents are night time citizens. It’s one of the reasons people move to Amsterdam.”

Wallagh insists that a “liveable’”city for a lot of Amsterdam residents is about enjoying its nightlife, and that it shouldn’t be reserved for tourists and day trippers. “I’d hate it to tun in to some sort of perverted Disneyland… or Venice,” he says. And he is sometimes critical of how the city operates and believes cities across the globe are making similar mistakes by not protecting night life and by giving in to the business of gentrification.

Amsterdam, he says, is a “city of strangers”.  “If people come for work or love or just because Amsterdam is a great place to live – that’s what makes Amsterdam beautiful.” Yet, he is concerned about the arrival of people for short periods… “who don’t get to know the culture, and then leave”. Experimental art and nightlife, he says, are vulnerable to this type of gentrification.

“Because nightlife doesn’t provide the same kind of revenue as other businesses it’s not seen as holding the same kind of material value,” he says. When cities become more expensive, it’s artists who have to leave, he points out. The venues “that operate under the radar… make Amsterdam what it is – that’s the value they bring, and we can’t lose them.”

Wallagh sees one of his top priorities as making the city a safer place at night, especially for the queer community, given the recent rise in homophobic incidents and attacks on the rainbow flag.

“A small minority (of people) feel emboldened… It’s the political climate, it’s online media that has emboldened them,” he says. Despite this, Wallagh doesn’t believe people are becoming less tolerant. “But our (the queer community’s) safety shouldn’t be reliant on the acceptance of the general public,” he says.

To that aim, Wallagh thinks an essential part of a safe, 24-hour city is good, regular night transport. It’s something that he’s been campaigning for and is in constant discussions with the council and local public transport company GVB.

Public transport

There is, for example, since the pandemic, still only a “scaled back” night bus service for the city and with trams stopping before 1 am, there is a lack of a safe, affordable way to get home. In particular, he hopes to get the idea of a night metro back on the agenda, after it was first discussed pre-Covid.

“It’s important for everyone but especially women and queer and trans individuals,” he says. “Of course it comes down to money, it has to be economically viable.”

Increasing and maintaining the number of safe nightlife spaces for queer and trans people is also high on Wallagh’s agenda. Club Raum finally opened in Amsterdam West at the beginning of May after a long battle with the port authority. Tillatec, run by the owners of queer venue Pamela, has moved into the building that once housed the popular club De School. And at queer café Saarein, the new, young guard are taking over.

Financial pressure

So is Wallagh positive about the future of queer nightlife in the city? “It’s going to be a struggle,” Wallagh admits. “Fostering talent takes effort. Organising safe places takes time… there is financial pressure and it’s not the safest time to be queer individual.”

Wallagh is, nevertheless, optimistic. He sees Amsterdammers becoming more tolerant and he thinks the divide between the older traditional gay communities and the younger queer communities is lessening. In recent years for example, Amsterdam’s Pride festival has been renamed ‘Queer and Pride’, which has created more room ‘for an even broader focus’, according to Pride Amsterdam. This has been widely welcomed as a positive change.

One year into his role as night mayor, Wallagh is clear what his legacy should be. “I would be very proud in my old age if I could look back and think I’ve played some small part in making our city a little bit more kind, a little bit more weird and a little bit more creative.”