Bars and restaurants will be able to reopen their terraces on May 19 (illustration). – M.Libert / 20 Minutes
- From May 19, bars and restaurants will be able to reopen their terraces.
- The city of Lille has decided to keep the terraces free until September 30.
- Traders will also have the option of expanding existing terraces or creating temporary ones.
Less than two weeks before the reopening of the terraces of bars and restaurants, customers and professionals are impatient. However, as Martine Aubry, mayor of Lille recalled, it will not be a complete return to life before. Restrictive sanitary measures will remain in force and traders will have to comply. To mitigate the effect of these constraints, the town hall plans to make a gesture, or even several. However, the bosses will have to stay in the nails, otherwise …
“Calm down, everyone must not think that the game is won”, warned Martine Aubry, Thursday, while looking forward to the next reopening of the terraces. In this regard, the city intends to put back in place the devices that had been offered to traders during previous deconfinements.
Free, extensions and ephemeral terraces
Starting with the exemption from the public space occupancy fee for establishments with a permanent terrace, which number around 700 in the territory of the municipality. The free service will be effective until the end of September and represents a shortfall for the city of around 750,000 euros (900,000 euros in 2020).
The town hall is also ready to grant extensions of terraces as well as the establishment of ephemeral terraces to try to compensate for the ban on establishments to welcome customers inside. “There will be complaints from some local residents but we must also think of restaurants which have been closed for eight months,” Martine Aubry immediately anticipated. These extensions or creations can be done “wherever possible” and on condition that a few rules are respected: leave a passage of 1.40 m free for disabled people on the sidewalk, do not encroach on a building entrance, etc. .
“Without mercy” in case of overflows
For example, for restaurants on Avenue Jean-Lebas, the cycle path, currently on the sidewalk, will be shifted to the roadway to allow establishments to have more space. The city has also targeted a number of streets in which traders can invest parking spaces to expand their terraces.
In addition to this, you need to know more about it.
Nevertheless, Martine Aubry specifies that nothing is set in stone. Establishments that have already obtained previous extensions are not guaranteed to obtain them again, just as new authorizations may be withdrawn in the event of overflows. “One of the restaurants on rue des Bouchers will be deprived of a terrace this year. We also have a number of bars on rue Royale in our sights. They will be closely watched and we will be merciless, ”warned the mayor of Lille.