Bordeaux bars keep a low profile after nine administrative closures

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In this bar, the Base, the bar has been removed to avoid the temptation to get up too often.

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• The drinking establishment control brigade must check that the reinforced sanitary measures are applied in the bars and restaurants of the metropolis of Bordeaux.

• This Saturday evening, the establishments were rather good students, presenting devices to control the flows of their customers.

• After nine administrative closures, the owners of the establishments are also particularly cautious.

It is in civilian clothes and in an unmarked car that the drinking establishment brigade carries out checks on bars and restaurants in the Bordeaux metropolis at night.

In addition to the regulations in force, these establishments are subject to anti-Covid-19 health rules, which have been reinforced since September 14.

The brigade ensures that the wearing of masks and distancing is respected, but also that the establishments have given up dancing evenings, drinking standing up and playing music on the public highway.

This Saturday evening, Jean-Marc and Stéphane, police officers from the departmental security drinking establishments brigade are accompanied by Bruno and Manuela, two drinking establishments control agents, attached to the municipal police.

Managers adapt

"We have already made passages in the establishments to explain what we did not want to see", explains Jean-Marc.

"Some also asked us for advice on interpreting the prefectural decree and we provided them with details," adds Stéphane.

Clearly, all establishments are warned and know the rules of the game, according to them.

It is often the denunciations of residents for noise pollution that guide these night tours.

But it can also be other professionals: "The more the bars will do anything, the more the discotheques will delay in opening", points out Stéphane.

The evening begins with a visit to the Bövem, in Pessac "At the beginning it was complicated to 'police' the customers but we adapted to the situation," says the manager.

In its room which can accommodate 120 people, tables have been removed to respect social distancing.

With a keen eye, the officers quickly sweep their eyes around the room.

“We check that the servers are well masked and that the customers without a mask remain seated at their tables,” explains Manuela.

RAS, they then go to another establishment, Baïla Pizza, in Haillan.

"It's good, the first floor which hosted a nightclub is closed", announces Stéphane upon arrival in the car park.

And inside the manager shows white paw: "It's over the confusion, we want to work."

The bar bosses still have a little pressure and receive the agents with a finger on the seam of the pants.

The threat of administrative closure

For agents, the nine administrative closures, from fifteen days to one month, already pronounced in Bordeaux sounded like warnings for the whole of the profession which is held in check, that evening at least.

At The Base, at Bassins à flot, the bar has been removed to avoid clumping at the counter and tables have been added.

“We have been here several times and we can see that there is an evolution in the measures and that the manager has made efforts to adapt,” says Jean Marc.

Others among the closed establishments were much less clever, posting photos on social networks clearly showing breaches of barrier gestures (swimming pool full of people for example).

Another trendy bar in the Bassins à flot "Le Joya" has also taken measures to better control the movement of its customers, such as access to the interior limited by wearing a bracelet and the need for a card to go. in the toilet.

"We want to find solutions to last," said the manager, slipping that he must refuse a hundred people every evening.

Accepting not to refuel to comply with the sanitary measures imposed is the lot of these night establishments who fear more than anything a limitation of their hours or worse a closure.

Even in this establishment where a concert is given, customers remain seated and do not give in to the temptation to dance.

- E.Provenzano / 20 Minutes

The team decides to push a little further towards an establishment where a concert is obviously taking place, the Loft Bordeaux 33. And, good surprise: no customer dances standing, the most intrepid jiggle on their chairs.

“There was a lot of communication and work upstream and we can see that it pays off,” says the brigade.

It must be said that it is still relatively early in the evening and that these establishments are spacious, the agents expect a slightly different situation in the cramped bars of the Bordeaux hypercentre.

The yacht party ends

Having come to inspect a bar on the quays, near the Chaban-Delmas bridge, the team is intrigued by a loud sound from the sound system.

After having advanced several hypotheses on the origin of the noise, she understands that a private dancing party is being organized on a yacht,

from the company Le Ponant.

For the first time, the brigade then boarded the boat for a check.

"It's considered noise because you can hear it 200 meters on the public road, clarifies Stéphane.

This is a very bad example for other establishments ”.

Warned, the captain cuts off the sound and the brigade resumes the thread of their tour on a little quieter quays, for at least some time.

Le Bougainville, which was in Moon Harbor this weekend had a police visit for uproar on Saturday night.

- E.Provenzano / 20 Minutes

On the first part of the evening, the brigade only engages in this oral call to order.

“We are pleasantly surprised, comments Stéphane.

I think the minority that did anything has already been punished ”.

This brigade can issue a fine (first class fine) or motivate formal notices or closures to the prefecture.

It will continue to play the killjoy, while the health measures are in force and the threat of clusters continues.

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• Aquitaine

• Covid 19

• epidemic

• Restaurant

• Party

• Bar

• Nightclub