Can we get the party started? French nightclubs finally reopen, but Covid-19 measures stay in place
French nightclubs could open their doors this weekend for the first time since they were closed more than a year ago for Covid-19, but restrictive new health protocols and staff shortages mean many clubs remain closed.
It’s 10 p.m. and the Alimentation Générale nightclub in eastern Paris is open. No one has arrived yet and the dance hall seems sadly empty, but the lights are dazzling.
Farid, who has worked at the nightclub for 17 years, sits at the bar with a Corona in front of him. It’s been nearly 16 months since he spent a Saturday night here since the French government announced that nightclubs, bars, and restaurants will close on March 14, 2020. “We’re a little rusty,” he says with a laugh.
This weekend could be a big opening day, but there are still restrictions. Closed venues can only accommodate 75 percent of their normal capacity and are reserved for people with a valid “health passport” – a QR code or certificate showing the holder has recently been treated for Covid-19, is fully vaccinated, or has tested negative for Covid-19 in the last 48 hours.
Twenty-nine-year-old Emilie and a group of friends arrive first, and as the lights dim, the music begins. “We’re so excited!” As she waits in line to scan her health certificate, she smiles. In France, only one in five young people between the ages of 18 and 29 is fully vaccinated. She says the new regulations have caused “chaos” as she and her friends have had to organize Covid-19 tests in advance.
For many companies, this is one of the biggest challenges.
“It means people have to plan before they go out, but there’s a lot of confusion. Did we do the right tests? Will our health certificates work? Are we going to get rejected because we’re already 75% done? People don’t bother anymore, they just go to bars,” says nightclub manager Frantz Steinbach, who is also chairman of the government’s Nightlife and Music Industry Committee.
Only one of his 12 clubs in France will be open this weekend. “There is a lot of economic uncertainty,” he explains. “It’s too risky, and it’s cheaper to stay closed.”
Only 1 of 5 nightclubs open
He is far from alone in this decision. According to union figures, only 20% of French nightclubs have reopened.
All nightclubs in Rennes, in western France, plan to close their doors because the vaccination coverage of their target group is still “insufficient.”
A nightclub collective in the southwestern city of Biarritz called the government’s permission to reopen a “poisoned chalice” and said health regulations would cause “headaches” for clubs.
In Marseille, the Trolleybus nightclub welcomed customers Friday night, but the new protocol caused complications.
“We lost many customers because some didn’t have health cards and some refused to register, which delayed the queue, so some left because they didn’t want to wait. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know what to do in the long run, but I can tell you it’s extremely restrictive for one evening and it just doesn’t work.” Florent Provansal, the club’s manager, told France 24.
Reopened, but without staff
Despite the problems on the first night and the reduced capacity, which Provansal said “immediately wiped out a quarter of our turnover,” his team was happy to be back in business.
“It’s not just about the financial side. Without a job, we’re not ourselves. From a psychological standpoint, we needed it,” he says. “Last year, we lost all our jobs overnight. Now the government is finally saying we can open, we just have to keep working.”
A Paris nightclub reopening after 16 months of closure and the crowd seem pretty excited 🎉 pic.twitter.com/LLS10vUMRu
— Emma Pearson (@LocalFR_Emma) July 9, 2021
Elsewhere, finding workers to reopen has been difficult. Like the tourism, hotel, and restaurant industries, the nightlife industry is facing a severe labor shortage.
Renaud Barillet is one founder of Cultplace, an events and entertainment company that operates eight cultural venues in France. La Bellevilloise club and concert hall in Paris has kept staff, but Barillet says the situation at La Fabuleuse Cantine in La Rochelle, which employs mostly seasonal workers, is “catastrophic.”
“The employees were not on our side in the face of so much uncertainty. They need to earn money. Many were retrained and worked in other industries,” he says. According to the unions, half of the workers in the sector have found jobs elsewhere.
In addition, the government’s relaxation of restrictions at the right time had a significant impact on the unions’ decision to open or not. July and August are usually the least busy times in the industry when people leave cities for summer vacations.
The government has announced that it will continue to subsidize clubs that choose to remain closed, at least until the end of the summer.
However, the months of closures have hurt the sector. At least 200 of France’s 1,600 nightclubs have been permanently closed and about 200 more are on the verge of bankruptcy.
Financial support for the sector included partial unemployment for workers, help with fixed costs such as rent, water, and electricity bills, and access to government-guaranteed loans. But Barillier says his venues have lost 80 percent of their sales in the last 16 months.
“Government subsidies have stopped the hemorrhaging of the sector, it didn’t reverse the dead loss of 2020,” he says. Because the sector is still so fragile, taking out a loan would be “suicidal,” he says.
But Farid of Alimentation Générale says the company only survived because of the loan, which allowed it to pay its bills and outstanding debts.
He shrugs his shoulders and resigns himself to the inevitable loss of sales. “We have to deal with this situation. We’re not doing as well as we used to, but we want to be here. It’s worse to be shut out.”
As Emilie and her friends hit the dance floor, she smiles and says, “It’s good to be back. We want to make people happy again.”