“A Brest institution”: the Hôtel des Voyageurs, three generations and a century of history [En images]

More than 60 pages on the American Bar, the Grand Bar Lombard and the Hôtel des Voyageurs: rarely has a chapter been so long in the Cahiers de L’Iroise. Why did you bring out these family archives?

Georges Lombard, descendant of the Hôtel des Voyageurs family: “It’s because of the exhibition at the Capuchins in the summer of 2023, on the painter Jim Sevellec. With my two sisters, we brought out photos of the murals that had decorated the room of the hotel rebuilt after the war. They were destroyed during the complete renovation in 1970. The modernizing impulse of the time prevailed over the conservative spirit. Is there any survival of Sevellec’s works in the current establishment (at the corner of avenue Clemenceau and rue Yves-Collet)? The very nature of the work, the drilling of walls, suggests that no, but when it reopened, part of the walls were covered with paneling. So who knows? We had contacted the city’s heritage and cultural department and this was repeated to Cahiers de l’Iroise… We agreed to contribute but not on just part of our family’s history. Over the three generations: from the beginning around 1888 (the takeover of the Bar Americain then the Grand Bar in 1895 and the Hôtel des Voyageurs in 1910) until 1990, the retirement of my father and the transfer of the fund to buyers, i.e. more than a century.

Was talking about an institution about this establishment overused?

“The press quickly praised him. The expression reminds me of the memory of André Rivier, a recently deceased journalist at Télégramme: he was talking about a Brest institution. It was a large family home, very stable. Brest residents with the means who wanted to mark an event came there. Even the funeral meals weren’t sad! There was this relationship with customers, too… The name Les Voyageurs, commonplace since the 19th century, also contributed to this.”

You draw up the history of this trade in chronological order…

“He imposed himself. The two world wars had a double impact. My great grandparents were pioneers. Jean-Baptiste died in 1898 and Adèle (whose parents had run La Baratte, in Paris, which Zola speaks of in Le Ventre de Paris) in 1904. The two eldest, Auguste and Élisa, took over the business and had the audacity to disrupt the tranquility of the Brest market. The hotel was then at 16 rue de Siam. There we found all the modern comforts of the time. There were other flagships but not on this street: the Moderne and the Continental which was already at its current address. They looked at these young people out of the corner of their eyes… Auguste died for France. Two younger brothers entered the business in 1919. In 1928, after a restructuring, only Georges, my grandfather, remained (there are three Georges in the family, with my uncle, the former senator and mayor). He brought art deco there. There was an excitement in Rue de Siam that we did not find again after the Second World War. The Café des Voyageurs was almost as successful as the restaurant…”.

Among the specialties, there were sole fillets, Brest fish soup, lobster, lobster. In short, the big cavalry of the time!

And Brest was bombed…

“The establishment was pulverized in the summer of 1944. My grandfather was around fifty years old. He found premises in Saint-Martin, for a temporary café-restaurant from 1946 to 1951. The town planners planned to liven up the station area with a hotel, café, restaurant. The street to go to the station was not very passable but he settled there, next to Charles Muzy, from Vauban (the grandfather of Charles Muzy, the current owner of this establishment who succeeded the the Cheval Blanc hotel, located rue Algésiras, Editor’s note). When my grandfather died, at the very beginning of the 1960s, my father took over. He too was called Auguste. Since the sale in 1990, quite a few new owners have followed one another. Today, in the same building, there are three businesses: the Le Clemenceau restaurant; upstairs, there is l’Étage, also a restaurant, and on the Yves-Collet side, the Mercure Brest Center Les Voyageurs hotel. They kept the name. Some of those who knew it before 1990 continue to say, when going to a restaurant, that they go to Les Voyageurs… This is also why it was the right time to write this article in Cahiers de l’Iroise.

It is said that General De Gaulle was eyeing the digestives but his wife nudged him!

What were the highlights of the post-war period?

“In 1959, under the name of the restaurant L’Ancre d’Or, there was the first Michelin star in Brest and for a long time the only one! The restaurant followed the fashion of the 1950s on the rotisserie, around a large fireplace and an incandescent vertical wall. Table service was done on pedestal tables that were pushed, with the cut of poultry. Among the specialties, there were sole fillets, Brest fish soup, lobster, lobster. In short, the big cavalry of the time! Interviewed by Le Télégramme in 1996, on the fact that there was no other star in Brest, my father was quite scathing. He said that success came from hard work, a lot of it. Then the cohesion of all the contributors, the service, the cuisine, with great stability. Then top quality products. All while respecting all the flavors, in generously portioned plates. They said that Lombard’s was plentiful! There was a generosity. Another highlight: the restaurant cooked food for General De Gaulle in February 1969, the day before his famous Quimper speech. There was no indigestion or poisoning! They say he was eyeing the digestives but his wife nudged him! “.

Why didn’t the fourth generation follow?

“My father did not choose to succeed his. It was a constraint that weighed on him all his life. He always discouraged us from doing it. We would have accepted perhaps if he had insisted but he did not want to have the same attitude. We also realized the catastrophe for family life, with a complete absence of the father. I am convinced that in less than six months, we would have been shipwrecked! But I worked there as a seasonal worker and I saw my father at work. I’m really happy with this. It made up for the family aspect.”

Practical

Georges Lombard will host a conference this Thursday, December 19, 2024 at 6 p.m., Yves-Moraud room, Segalen faculty in Brest: “Three generations of hoteliers and restaurateurs in Brest: the American Bar, the Grand Bar Lombard and the Hôtel des Voyageurs”. FREE ENTRANCE.