END OF HEATED TERRACES. The ban on heated terraces is put in place this Friday, April 1, 2022 throughout France. A measure is proving difficult for Parisian restaurateurs.
[Mis à jour le 31 mars 2022 à 09h47] Friday, April 1, the ban on heated terraces, a measure resulting from the Climate law, becomes effective throughout the France, after a one-year postponement. No more warm dinners, well seated on the terrace of a Parisian restaurant in the middle of winter… Faced with the application of this ban, restaurateurs and bar owners fear losing customers. “It’s always us, the merchants and craftsmen who pay the bill for the others”, laments Stéphane Malet, boss of Relais Charbon, a restaurant in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, at the microphone of RFI. “I don’t really understand the measure, there are thousands of private jets flying every day, they are theirs alone, and they have more means than us to make the effort to take the train or to drive an electric car”, he justified himself.
But a heated terrace for one day is still equivalent to driving 350 kilometers by car… When the law was voted, the Secretary of State for Ecological Transition Emmanuel Wargon had specified “that half a million tonnes of CO2” would no longer be emitted each year. A significant ecological measure… Some restaurateurs plan to adapt next winter to limit the loss of turnover, especially in Paris where restaurant terraces abound. The boss of the Lutetia brewery in Paris has already announced to RFI that she will be releasing the “plaids” and “the “blankets” for “the months of December 2022 and January 2023”.
When will the heated terraces end?
After many postponements due to the Covid-19 crisis, we are finally there. This Friday, April 1, 2022, no more electric heaters, heated parasols or braziers will be authorized outside bars, cafes and restaurants throughout France. The measure has already come into force in some cities in France such as the city of Rennes since 2020.
The measure prohibiting heated terraces is provided for in the “climate and resilience” law, adopted on August 22, 2021 and carried by the Minister for Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili. From June 30, 2022, restaurateurs will be penalized by a fine if they do not remove their outdoor heaters.