ATAt the bar Chez Fred, in Vierzon (Cher), having a drink is not without risk. Thirteen days apart, two vehicles drove into this neighborhood bistro, whose misfortune is to be located in the middle of a bend. A Citroën C5, at the end of February, then a Renault Master, at the beginning of March, made a “straight ahead”, in quick succession, in the curve in question. The front of the cafe exploded on the first impact. Replaced by planks, it did not resist the violence of the second shock any better. The walls shook, the tables collapsed, the refrigerated display cases shattered.
Luckily, it was 5:30 am both times: no customers were present. After six weeks of administrative closure due to the risk of collapse, the drinking establishment reopened on April 25, to the great relief of its boss, Frédéric Arnaud, and its regulars. Last bar in town to serve until midnight, Chez Fred also has the characteristic of being open every day of the year, 1er May and Christmas included.
In the time of its previous owners, the place – alternately called Le Saint-Martin, La Luna, Les Z’amis – had already received impromptu visits from cars and vans. “And even a pig trailer”, remembers Francine Bodeaud, who worked there as a waitress. A regular customer today, she brings the newspaper to the boss every day, before downing a coffee. Another mainstay, Didier, supplies him with bread for the midday meal (all-you-can-eat buffet of starters, dish of the day and dessert, for 12 euros). At 9 a.m., all the morning devotees are there for the first round of dry white or Pulco orange: Daniel, Christian, Mouloud, “Chouchoune” – most of them retirees with modest pensions.
“A quarter of an hour, I passed there”
Frédéric Arnaud – said Fred, therefore – had been sleeping for a short time, on the upper floor, when the first driver smashed his sign, on February 26, before slipping away incognito, leaving his car behind him. A 65-year-old man came to the police station the next morning to explain that he had fallen asleep at the wheel. A version that the lemonade maker strongly doubts. The proximity of a nightclub, Le Temple, located 2 kilometers away on the same road, leads him to suspect a younger user, who has probably drunk too much, as some customers have told him. Same suspicion about the three passengers in the second vehicle: were they also coming out of the nearby nightclub, whose closing time had just struck?
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