Ironing, linen and textiles in Leidschendam
Leidschendam was for centuries quite literally a 'dam' — an overtoom in the Vliet between the water levels of The Hague and the Rhineland, where boats had to be hauled across and where bargemen were forced to pause. Along the bank stood inns, grain stores, ship repairers, and bargemen's wives who, during those interim hours, would hang linen from the boats out to dry and iron it. The trade of 'bargeman's ironer' was a familiar figure on the Vliet well into the nineteenth century.
When the dam was replaced by a lock in 1886, the village turned into a commuter municipality. Between the Vliet and the burgeoning suburbs of The Hague, villa quarters such as De Heuvel and Damsigt arose, inhabited by civil servants, schoolmasters and clerks who worked in The Hague. That meant a clean shirt every day, a starched collar and an ironing board in the living room — in many households outsourced to a neighbourhood ironer.
When Leidschenhage was built in the 1960s, and later the Mall complex, a second generation of residents arrived: more modern households, many dual-earner couples, less time for an evening of ironing. The household shifted; the need for neatly ironed work clothes did not.
Since 2013 we have been driving out from our laundry on the Henricuskade on fixed mornings through Leidschendam. Your laundry bag is ready in the morning, and it comes back — washed, ironed, folded — with the same delivery driver. No appointment, no lugging, no drying rack in the living room.
How does Strijkservice Haaglanden work in Leidschendam?
For residents of Leidschendam our service works exactly as in the rest of Haaglanden: on a fixed day of the week our driver comes by, picks up your laundry bag and brings your laundry back clean and crisply ironed. No appointment needed — your routine is set.
You get one regular driver and a fixed pickup rhythm so you always know what to expect. No carrying, no full drying racks in the living room, no evenings at the ironing board.
Everything is handled in our own laundry on Henricuskade in The Hague. Shirts, blouses, table linen, bed and bath textiles — we iron it the way it should go back into the cupboard at home, neatly folded and ready to use.