It’s the last winter to have a drink on the terrace without being completely frozen. From spring, on March 31, heating systems of all kinds installed on sidewalks will be banned in Nantes and the rest of France. A measure aimed at combating global warming and the CO2 emissions caused by these heated terraces. But that does not seem to please the bar owners, already weakened by the epidemic of health crisis, and many still use these machines.
At the head of the Graslin de Folie, in downtown Nantes, Didier Legrand even speaks of a “heresy”. At the end of the afternoon in December, it is around 6 degrees outside and its room is empty, unlike its terrace where customers have a drink under large heated umbrellas. “Since the health crisis, people have been encouraged to see themselves outside, but where will customers go when the heaters are removed ?, asks the merchant. Ecology, it’s obvious that you have to think about it, but there are still other big industries to tackle before coming to kill small businesses. “
A very strong selling point
Not far from there, at Salut Marcel, we are waiting for the decree which should soon be published to specify the outlines of this ban, even if we would especially prefer that the measure be still postponed for one year. “This is not the priority at the moment, we hope for flexibility, says the manager, Julien Laffeach, who says he is ready to invest in alternative solutions to replace the huge radiators plugged in near each table outside. Even though heating the outside is not very smart, it is a very strong selling point. Just look at the empty tables of establishments that don’t. “
Place du Bouffay, it is under red lamps that a dozen young people toast with beer. But these students are unanimous: “It was a bonus, and so much the better for the environment if it is removed, loose Alexane, 22 years old. We will go inside or we will put on a bigger coat ”. An opinion that obviously share Nantes environmentalists, who asked traders last month, via a press release, to put away their braziers without waiting (as in Lyon), and to make blankets available.
In Rennes, the cold snap did not take place
This is indeed what happens in Rennes when a few rare customers, surely passing through, still ask bars and restaurants if they have heating outside. Because since January 1, 2020 and the entry into force of the new terrace charter, the Breton capital was the first city in France to ban the practice. At the time, cafetiers and restaurateurs feared this change, but two years later, the cold snap has not taken place, if we are to believe Pierre Clolus, owner of the restaurant L’Ambassade.
“Everyone squeaked at the beginning but we quickly realized that this had no impact on the activity or very little”, underlines this elected representative of Umih 35, who was “shocked” to see so many heated terraces on a recent trip to Barcelona. In the rue Saint-Michel, one of the high places of Rennes’ nightlife, the findings seem mixed. “It was all the same absurd,” observes a waiter in a night bar. And in addition it consumed severely! “