At the end of the eighties, the first plans were made to set up a place in Hengelo where it was good to stay and where good quality cannabis would be provided. As these plans began to take shape, the search for a suitable location began. This did not seem to be easy …
Eventually, a municipality was found in the center of Hengelo. After an application to rent the property, the answer remained after three months. We had the idea that the municipality could not respond positively. Our plans would then be given the green light, plans that we had explained very transparently in a letter. So we went to help the council: crack!
Unfortunately this was a very short adventure, after three days we were back outside … ;-( It was decided to throw it over a less open bow, we would from now on present as a board game club and not as a coffee shop.) Soon there was a tiny building where we ourselves as adolescent our first joints had smoked at the door in an era where everything was still illegal. A name was quickly found, Rokade, a chess term that applied to our move, and we went to live in the smoke of the town hall tower.
For people who do not know what a Rokade means: The rokade (reshuffle) is one move:
• The king moves two squares.
• The tower will be placed on the square where the king jumped over it
From Day One, on June 6, 1988, Rokade was a success and after one year we started to grow out of our coat, so another building had to be found …
That property was quickly found: The local Chicken King on the Deldensestraat was very bad and the owner wanted to get rid of his building.
Now we are almost thirty years away. Rokade has grown into a serious company with 22 employees and a clientele that comes from far and wide on our products.
