Caroline Baudry (special correspondent in Le Havre), edited by Solène Leroux 4:16 p.m., April 12, 2022

Up 35% over one year, the pace of business bankruptcies is accelerating in France.

A crisis reinforced by the Covid-19.

Normandy is the third region most affected by the phenomenon.

The Anatolie restaurant, for example, in Le Havre, filed for bankruptcy last Thursday.

Business bankruptcies are soaring in France, with +35% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021. According to data from the firm Altares published on Tuesday, after Hauts-de-France (+72%) and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (+66%), Normandy takes third place on the sad podium with a 52% increase in the opening of proceedings.

The Covid-19 crisis has worsened these figures.

The Anatolie restaurant, for example, in Le Havre, filed for bankruptcy last Thursday.

Europe 1 went there.

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"Premises available", can we read on a sign fixed on the front of the Turkish restaurant.

Acun, 64, suit jacket and thick mustache, held the premises for 32 years.

"There are coffee machines, freezers," he describes.

"There are three people working in addition to me. Between the inside and the outside, there are about 70 covers", recalls the now retired.

70 covers deserted during the nine months the restaurant was closed due to the coronavirus.

During this period, Acun then receives 1,500 euros in monthly aid, but the charges cost him double.

The restaurateur is in debt, between the "accountant, rents, Urssaf and electricity" since "the charges and the rent do not stop".

Teleworking in question

When it is allowed to reopen, the aid decreases: "At the end, it is between 300 and 400 euros."

And then, nothing for a year, while customers are not enough to bail out the coffers of the restaurant.

Regulars of the surrounding offices are now working from home.

"There are not enough", assures the sexagenarian.

"At the time, I bought three kilos of minced meat every other day, in the end I bought half a kilo that I couldn't even finish, even the butcher was shocked."

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He closes his establishment with regret: "I like to work, I like the contact with the customers. But I can't do it, I stop, it's liquidation. It's too hard for me" , he blurts out.

Everyone leaves their establishment, its stone walls and its red tablecloths.

The rest is still unclear for the old gentleman and his 522 euros monthly pension.