Almost two months that they keep doors closed. Due to health rules, nightclubs have been closed since December 10 until February 16. However, the most daring clubbers know that they can always find an alternative solution in certain bars or restaurants ready to derogate from health rules (such as wearing a mask when traveling) and respect for barrier gestures.
Cigarette breaks in the smoking room, bodies piled up on the dancefloor… It’s 2 am and the party is in full swing in this bar located in the heart of the capital. The establishment has been transformed into a nightclub to the delight of its guests. Glued to each other, without masks, they fervently sing a hit from the 80s. Yves is one of those customers who defy taboos. “They closed the nightclubs again, we had to fall back on other options to go out. Some bars are part of it.” After a stint on the dance floor, the computer science student takes a “smok break” in the smoking area. “It’s packed with people here. If one of us has the Covid, we all toast,” Yves jokes. A laxity of which there is no shortage of examples, from Paris to the Côte d’Azur, or even in the mountains.
“Our customers like to play with fire”
Julie, singer for establishments in Paris and on the Côte d’Azur, saw the “festive restaurants” fill up during the Covid period. “The simple act of eating has taken a back seat. Today, customers are flocking to our restaurants, in search of a semblance of freedom.” Pianist, guitarist, performer or DJ take turns to make the clientele of these high-end places dance. “We regularly have people ready to pay dearly for this moment of celebration. And when you have a client who multiplies the large bottles, you are not going to police him to tell him to stay seated when he wants to dance”. Faced with an “ever increasing” demand, restaurateurs “do not have the desire to hinder the rules, but simply the desire to satisfy their customers” assures Julie.
“You have to be honest, apart from controlling the pass, we don’t respect much.” Alban is a waiter in a ski resort known for “its festivities” and asks that “the hypocrisy stop with nightclubs”. “Here, it has happened that customers climb on the tables and chain shooter rounds with us. It’s like a disco after all”. At a certain hour, the DJ of the establishment in which Alban works receives the instruction “to increase the pace to launch hostilities”. The seasonal worker justifies these “moments of celebration” with a demand for “increasingly crazy”. “The closure of nightclubs has only heightened the euphoria in our restaurants. Some customers are going crazy at the idea of experiencing a normally forbidden moment”. Faced with such situations, the police sometimes “appear unexpectedly”. “At times like these, we calm things down, we lower the volume and we get away with a warning. The problem is that our customers like to play with fire and quickly demand a return to normal, it’s become complicated to say no to them”.
On the side of the police, “no one is fooled”. The head of the municipal police on site explains that “the festivities begin at nightfall”. “For our part, we officiated until 9 p.m. and until then nothing is to report, but at night, the reality is quite different”. Collaborating with the gendarmerie, the head of the post is kept informed of night interventions. “We know that there are 3 to 4 restaurants which, at nightfall, turn into a disco with DJs and everything that goes with it, I let you imagine”. In this specific case, the city’s policy is “to warn once, then to verbalize”. The warnings fell, but some repeated and were therefore verbalized. so that it’s impossible to see what’s going on inside. Closed doors, one-way windows or drawn curtains, that must be all right.” A “new” problem for the village, which saw these “festive restaurants” arrive during the year 2021. “I don’t know if there was a “pandemic” effect, but we have never had so many ‘establishments of this kind in the station’.
“They make their money on the misfortune of others”
Patrick Malvaës, president of the National Union of Discotheques and Places of Leisure, denounces a “total inconsistency in government policy”. “We’ve all seen videos on social media of people on top of each other in restaurants and bars as the clubs were closed. It proves that the restrictions on nightclubs are ridiculous and insane.” For him, the different establishments “are not housed in the same boat”. “In addition, restaurants take advantage of this to recover their health by occupying our night slot without constraints, or at least without control. There is nothing normal about making money on the misfortune of others”. Patrick Malvaës wants to insist on the one who, according to him, “is the only one responsible for these abuses”: the government. “When we see the euphoria in these new party places, for me we can say that the State is guilty of not assisting anyone in danger”.
“Since December 10, 2021 (date of closure of nightclubs), 106 fines have been issued for irregular opening of establishments open to the public. In addition to this are 308 closure orders, 15 of which concern nightclubs”, explains the Ministry of l interior at L’Express. Not enough to appease the anger of Patrick Malvaës. “Today there are 300 discos, or 1 in 4, which have not survived the crisis and lowered the curtain. During this time, everyone was able to continue to go to the restaurant or the bar with the pass from his grandmother”, concludes the trade unionist.