From 1915 onwards things went downhill for Brouwerij De Gekroonde Valk. Due to the effects of the First World War, the difficult twenties and thirties and an “expensive” guilder, De Gekroonde Valk was able to export less and less. To make matters worse, much less Van Vollenhoven Stout was drunk in the Netherlands itself.

Later, because of the emphasis on health, the brewery seemed to lose the battle for the Dutch beer drinker. Consumers in the early twentieth century were more likely to be convinced by the advertising of the breweries that emphasized the taste and image of their beer. The loss in that battle for the Dutch market was crucial in the eventual decline of the Gekroonde Valk.

On the Dutch pilsner market, the Gekroonde Valk was quickly behind the times because of this fatal mix of factors. Finally, after a long period of struggle, Heineken and Amstel took over the brewery in 1941. When the beer market did not improve after the war De Gekroonde Valk closed its doors for good in 1949. The only thing left was the Van Vollenhoven Extra Stout which Heineken continued to brew.