“I have lived in La Tour-du-Pin for 40 years, which has always been a dormitory town. And the weekend has never been very active”, observes Philippe, 42, finishing his glass of Coke. This regular barista is the only customer that Friday at 6 p.m. at the Wellington Café, which opens until around midnight on Fridays depending on attendance, but closes around 7 p.m. on Saturdays. “Saturday is worse than Friday: there is no one in the city center,” says the waitress. Because young people aged 18 to 30 prefer to gather in Bourgoin-Jallieu, Lyon or Grenoble, according to the managers of bars in Turripe. “Ten years ago, there were more young people going out at night in La Tour-du-Pin,” says the waitress, who recognizes, like the other bars in the city center, that the majority of her clientele is over 35 years old.
Same observation at the brasserie Le Grand café, which rarely closes after 9 p.m. on Saturday evening. “It’s not that I kick people out, but they leave…
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