Justice did not have enough elements to decide. Thursday, May 11, the court of Saint-Brieuc ordered the realization of an expertise in order to evaluate the nuisances denounced by a neighbor of the crêperie du Pêcheur, in Erquy (Côtes-d’Armor). Installed in an old dwelling house, this restaurant is accused of generating noise and odors that bother one of the neighbors. This case, quickly baptized “the creperie that smells too much of crepe” had been the subject of incredible media coverage after the owners of the establishment spoke out. “I have the feeling that we have made a lot of effort. It’s running wildly. We are fed up, we just want to work, ”explained Alex Polge, who bought the creperie in 2019.
Quickly, the case had turned into the good old war between “the Breton tradition” and “the Parisian” who complains about it. The couple of plaintiffs had settled permanently in their second home in 2016 to enjoy their retirement. “It’s a bit dangerous to attack a creperie in Brittany. But we did. My clients are not asking for a conviction. They just want to have their rights respected, ”explains Me Christophe Sanson. The local residents’ lawyer says he is “satisfied” to have obtained this expertise, which will last a year. The court ordered the plaintiff to set aside 5,000 euros for the realization of this expertise.
In their defence, the couple of restaurateurs justified the work carried out at their expense in an attempt to limit the nuisance. The couple had notably installed a new hood to extract the fumes, before moving their sink and isolating the room. Through the voice of his lawyer, the traders tried to oppose the expertise. During the hearing, the council considered that this case was time-barred “insofar as the first disturbances appeared in 2013 and that in terms of abnormal neighborhood disturbance we have five years to act”. The expert will have one year to form an opinion and share it with the courts. While waiting for its conclusions, the restaurant will be able to exercise normally.