"They know that we are going to die": the associative bars of Gironde worried by a prefectural decree

Le Figaro Bordeaux

The sentence came just before the extended Pentecost weekend. In Gironde, the rules are changing for the sale of alcoholic beverages. Until now, when bars closed in Bordeaux and the metropolis, at two o'clock in the morning, it was still possible to raise your elbow in one of the associative bars of the city. Now they can stay open but no longer sell alcohol after two in the morning, and therefore fear bankruptcy.

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Associative bars offer alternatives to nightclubs, a more private, smaller place, with their members, "says the Collective associations Gironde, at the origin of a petition that gathered in a few days more than 1000 signatures. For this organization, which brings together the cafes and associative bars of the Gironde metropolis (including the Café pompier, the Antidote or the Club of Disparate Poets), "this decree will create more consumption, more nuisance, more fights, more parties in apartments, more meetings on the quays and squares". Fearing the fallout of this prefectural decree, the associations concerned feel "condemned" by the prefect's decision. "They know we're going to die, it's against us.

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The prefecture points the finger at nuisances

For its part, the prefecture of Gironde recalls that "for several consecutive years and more particularly since the resumption of activity after the health crisis, violations of the regulations relating to drinking establishments, disturbances to public order and noise pollution related to the broadcast of amplified music within drinking establishments have multiplied". Thus, between 2021 and 2022, "the number of administrative police measures taken against these establishments increased by +148%".

The prefecture explicitly points the finger at "the multiplication of so-called associative establishments in Bordeaux and in the municipalities of the metropolis" selling alcohol after two o'clock in the morning, and recalls that "this specificity leads to a transfer of customers from bars and restaurants to these establishments from two hours", making that "these structures are at the origin of regular attacks on public tranquility and order ", especially in Bordeaux. According to the prefecture, these nuisances would be "directly related to the conditions of exploitation and the consumption of alcohol in these places".