The night clubs will remain closed all summer long

The health crisis that began with the confinement on March 17 ordering the closure of places of entertainment (theaters, cinemas, museums …), bars, restaurants not considered essential.

On May 11, phase 1 of deconfinement was put in place, phases 2 and 3 took place in June, allowing stores, museums, parks and gardens to be reopened to the public, followed by swimming pools and theaters and cinema, finally the bars and restaurants, first on terraces and then inside; always with sanitary precautions.

To date, the amusement parks have just reopened but the 1,600 night clubs and establishments in France are still closed, angering the managers and owners of the nightlife venues who organized a demonstration on July 12 near the ministry. health to request a specific opening date. The reason for this closure until at least September is: “a ban on opening establishments where the public remains standing”.
In order to unite to strengthen their demand, the owners of establishments created on May 15 the “Filière Committee” Night, festive musical places & life “to represent the interests of the entire profession (establishments, producers and event organizers) to the government In response to the ban, Frantz Steinbach, federator of the Committee replied “We do not go to a club, sometimes ten meters underground, to remain seated. Our promise is dancing, we cannot compromise on that “with the government.
Faced with this shortfall, it is to be feared that half of the clubs, or around 800 discotheques, will disappear if a reopening is not ordered until September; it would still be 30 to 40%, if we opened now. The opening will be subject to compliance with a strict health protocol (compulsory use of the mask, respect for the distance between the boxes and the tracing via the StopCovid application.
But while waiting for a reopening date, insurance, rent (up to 15,000 euros per month), fire alarms, maintenance of cash registers, air conditioning, rental of shuttles, are still running and professionals are asking for the right partial unemployment for club managers.

The hypothetical date of July 10 had been announced, supported by some deputies but this unfortunately did not follow the decision of the Ministry of Health which had put forward the health reasons in reference to a Swiss case where a case in a nightclub had led to the confinement of 300 people, with risks of community dissemination. Here is why the anger continues to rise among the people of the night, especially since the summer and the holiday period are the time when evening rhymes with club or disco. Not opening during the summer period means a loss of 60% to 70% of the turnover knowing that in addition, many establishments invest in their premises to better welcome customers during summer holidays.

For many nightclub owners, the misunderstanding of this decision is appropriate especially since we have seen the Fête de la Musique bringing people together, private parties, concerts bringing together thousands of spectators. , as in Nice recently where no barrier gesture was respected despite the call for vigilance launched by the government and elected officials. Faced with this, they argue that it is quite different in their establishments since secure boxes are installed to prevent cross infections, as was the case with the VIP who has just closed permanently, unable to resist the pandemic and the closure of the rue de Rivoli. This is not the case in private parties organized in bars and restaurants which have become “disguised discos”, which offer no guarantee of security according to Matthieu Lebrun, spokesperson for Normandy discos.

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VERONIQUE YANG

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