The posters posted on the door of this establishment in Saint-Patern announce the color: no glasses outside. This is one of the rules to which establishment owners pay particular attention to avoid creating noise pollution. The largest establishments call on doormen to avoid any overflow, both inside and outside. And some testify to a significant police presence: “We were checked four times in one year by the national police,” notes a bar manager. We didn’t get a fine but we feel pressure.” The establishment does not want to make any missteps.
“A city that is alive or sanitized? »
The golden rule for nightlife venues is to respect closing times. The rule is dictated by prefectural decree: closing applies at 1 a.m. for bars and 7 a.m. for nightclubs. With exemptions to 2 hours possible for establishments classified as “night bars”.
The issue? Reconcile nightlife with the calm demanded by the residents of these establishments. As Monique Jean, deputy in charge of security, confided in our columns last January: “The challenge is to find a happy medium between bringing the city to life and respecting public tranquility.”
In a neighborhood like Saint-Patern, which is sometimes singled out, one of its residents, who wishes to remain discreet, puts it this way: “What do we want: a lively city or a sanitized city? “. But balance is not always accessible: Daniel preferred to leave rue du Maréchal-Leclerc, following too restless nights: “It’s dreadful,” he confides. The nuisance, the noise, the fights.” In his sights: night bars. “From Wednesday to Sunday evening, we no longer sleep at night.” According to an informed observer of Breton evenings, since covid and the nighttime tranquility that the city has experienced, tolerance on the part of local residents has often diminished.
Nightclubs, a “necessary evil”
The establishments have the law of anticipation on their side. This is the principle according to which the occupants of a building suffering from noise pollution, coming from a business or an industrial site, cannot obtain compensation if the operators occupied the place before them. In other words: anyone who comes to settle near a noisy activity cannot complain about it. Provided that said establishment complies with the law. Since April 2024, this law has been included in the civil code.
However, this establishment manager feels that the demands are increasing: “Before, the municipality spoke to us about security, today about tranquility, that’s something else.” Hervé Lebreton, co-owner of the Master and the Zip, believes, for his part, that relations have improved in recent times: “In all cities, relations with nightclubs are somewhat conflictual. But that's changing. Mayors understand that nightclubs are, in a way, a necessary evil. Cities that made nightclubs miserable are suffering today, with young people roaming the streets. At least, with establishments, it is managed and under supervision.”
What a bar manager approves: “If we don't have an establishment like Valseuses or the night bars of Saint-Patern, young people will be outside, in the street. These establishments play a role.”
