From this Sunday, June 20, the closing times of your favorite bar will change. Because the curfew will be lifted but also because the Lille town hall has just changed those established until now. Schedules which differentiate the terraces and the interiors and which will be tested until the end of the year.
It was a surprise press conference in town hall this Thursday afternoon, but Jean Castex’s announcement on the lifting of the curfew on June 20 is not for nothing. The Lille town hall had planned to unveil its new decrees on July 1, but they will finally be on Friday morning to be effective on Sunday.
And get ready for change … As a reminder, before this pandemic, there was a municipal exemption allowing some bars to close later (until 3 am on weekends for example). There were less than 100 in Lille but it’s over now. The city wants to harmonize all this and everyone leaves under the general regime, namely:
- 1 am from Sunday to Wednesday
- 2 am from Thursday to Saturday
And beware, where that will really change is at the level of the terraces. Because there will now be a differentiation between the inside and the outside of bars and restaurants.
For the terraces it will therefore be closed at:
- 11 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday
- Midnight from Thursday to Saturday
This differentiation is to find the balance between “a nightlife that must exist and the tranquility of the inhabitants”According to the mayor of Lille Martine Aubry. She already knows that there will be a lot of dissatisfied with these new schedules, whether on the side of the managers or that of the inhabitants. “I am not saying that we are right, but we have thought about these schedules in consultation with professionals in the sector and we will do whatever happens at the end of the year.”
Car these new schedules are currently only experimental : the new “Night Council” that has been expected since the end of 2018 must be built at the start of the school year. In addition to creating a new nightlife charter, it will be he who will be in charge of taking stock of this novelty. It should be made up of elected officials but also managers, residents and “a few night owls drawn at random”Says Martine Aubry. We will get back to you in due course.
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