Stromae's 'Alors On Danse' cafe to be demolished

A traditional Belgian brown cafe seen 130 million times in the video for Stromae's Alors On Danse is about to be demolished.

The Oud Drogenbos pub is where, after a bad day at work, a young Stromae goes to drink, sing and dance in his debut hit, which reached number one in 20 countries around the world in 2009.

"We were looking for a nice, working class cafe. My manager lived right next to the Oud Drogenbos," Stromae said about the filming location.

"I didn't want to shoot the video somewhere glamorous. Everyone I met there was really nice and I kept going back for a coffee. It's such a quiet spot."

The cafe has been closed since early this year. Didier Roland, its owner for 16 years, decided not to apply for a licence renewal after it emerged that Drogenbos town hall had plans for a major real estate project on the site.

Since then, building permits have been approved and a number of expropriations are planned. Stromae's pub will make way for 50 apartments, shops, creche, a municipal hall and green public spaces. Building works should start in late 2018.

"When Stromae wanted to shoot his music video, he was not known at all," Roland recalls. "This first clip was what made his career take off. The filming ended up taking several days - it was a bit chaotic but in the end it went really well."