Quentin Schneider, co-manager of Warehouse on the island of Nantes -

J. Urbach / 20 Minutes

  • In financial difficulty, the Warehouse is looking for solutions to pay its monthly charges.

  • The nightclub invited local artists to mix and appealed for donations.

The party has been over for over ten months now.

At the Warehouse, the famous Hangar à Bananes nightclub in Nantes, the lights are off and the speakers have been put away since March 13, the date of the first confinement.

However, the bills continue to fall and in particular the rent of that which presents itself as the largest nightclub in the west (3,000 m2), which amounts to ... 55,000 euros, according to its managers.

"We must continue to pay while we are prohibited from operating, laments Quentin Schneider, DJ and co-manager of the place.

Insurance does not help us, but they too must be dealt with.

Add the maintenance costs, and it comes down to 70,000 euros per month.

"

Opposite, the helpers are meager to believe the managers.

So much so that the Warehouse, which programs around 700 artists and welcomes nearly 300,000 revelers a year, feels “completely forgotten”, even “discredited”.

Barely 80,000 euros have been paid to them and nothing has fallen since September, due to "administrative delays".

A PGE and the setting in partial unemployment of the 15 employees of the establishment later, the situation is today "critical" with an exploding debt.

"Still alive despite everything"

What the Warehouse now hopes is that the metropolis enters the game and can offer solutions.

A meeting could take place in the next few days.

"We can hold out if we are paid the charges, but the lessor [Le Hangar à bananes] does not want to give us a gift," says Quentin Schneider.

We could also have held up if nightclubs had been allowed to reopen this summer, such as bars and restaurants, where people were able to party sometimes.

We too are business leaders, we are involved in culture.

We are important to the life of the city.

"

“To show that we are still alive in spite of everything”, the Warehouse team has launched, for a few days, a series of invitations to local artists to come and record a mix in their premises, obviously without an audience.

"We then broadcast them on our networks to support these artists, who are also suffering a lot from the situation," explains Quentin Schneider.

We have also set up a donation system so that people who want to support us can do so.

In December, we were really at the bottom of the hole, in total vagueness, by dint of being carried around by the announcements.

There, we still do not know when and if we will reopen one day, but it gives us a little motivation to fight.

"

In early December, President Emmanuel Macron ruled out a rapid reopening of nightclubs.

"We will do it as soon as possible, but as long as the virus is circulating in a slightly intense way, it would be madness to do that", he indicated.

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  • Island of Nantes

  • Nightclub

  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Nantes