Discovering Emmanuel Macron’s announcements on a gradual lifting of health restrictions, Charles Cimarosti had, Thursday April 29, the strange feeling of being caught “A blow of the club” and not even to be surprised. Nightclubs are excluded from the reopening schedule but the manager of the Pop Art Club in Castres (Tarn) had prepared for it, out of habit: night clubs have been closed continuously since March 14, 2020.
“I based myself psychologically on the vaccination schedule, comments the owner of the establishment, usually frequented by 800 to 900 people every Saturday evening and that The world had met in February. Young people will be the last, too. ” With his team he now believes “Hard as iron” at the end of the September school year to welcome new customers.
At least four additional months of waiting, therefore, for a sector under drip of public aid, which is barely enough to keep professionals away from filing for bankruptcy. “We will succeed in doing a year and a half without turnover while paying the charges”, underlines Sabine Ferrand, at the head of the Tango of Saint-Laurent-Nouan (Loir-et-Cher). Impossible, today, to pay the paid holidays of its employees, which are not supported by the partial activity aid. And annoyance rises with each invoice: 3,800 euros of local waste removal tax for Le Tango in 2020, for example, despite its closure for nearly ten months of the year.
“If we stop, we have really lost everything”
So, continue, or close permanently and start a new life? The question lingers in everyone’s mind, but the impression of having a choice is all an illusion. “If we stop, we really have lost everything”, insists Sabine Ferrand. Departmental manager of the Union of Trades and Hospitality Industries (UMIH), she sees the price of nightclub business collapsing. Some rents have been suspended, but not canceled: they will have to be paid after the crisis. Attention is then focused on the dangers of the recovery period, during which “Aid must be maintained”, insists Charles Cimarosti.
The UMIH and its members transmitted to the Ministry of the Economy, in March, a document detailing, according to them, the possible ways out of the crisis for nightclub managers: in the event of reopening, say the professionals, support from the State remains necessary for several months to take on new investments (possible upgrading to standards, cost of the health protocol, payment of salaries despite the lack of cash). If the manager decides to close and cannot change activity, the union’s position is clear: business assets must be compensated.
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