Finally, some good news in this sad October of this dreadful year 2020. Trump would be missing out on reelection and that would be the pompom… This info, which is not fake news, it is the imminent reopening of the Café L’Excelsior, Place Claude-Arnoult, in Thionville, desperately closed since July 2019. It was counting without David Plez and his wife Anne-Catherine, owner of the walls, who worked to revive the café. Anne-Catherine is none other than the daughter of Pierrot Watry, who ran L’Excelsior for forty years with his wife Jeanne, and the granddaughter of Marcel Watry, the one who founded the establishment. “At the start, we set out with a view to finding a new manager, but given the scope of the work, we said to ourselves that it would probably be preferable for us to take over the business ourselves. Just to close the loop, ”summarizes David. The couple are joined by Sonia, a former waitress at Le Falcon bar. The three partners plan to start work in March to open in July but, patatras, the Covid epidemic is postponing everything. “After confinement, the companies were all mobilized and we had to wait a little longer,” sighs David Plez. In the end, the work will have spread over nearly five months. “For a big investment”, guarantees the boss. “Everything had to be redone from A to Z. Electricity, plumbing, painting, laying a real parquet, installing a disabled toilet or even a new bar. Only the front door has been preserved. “
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The most beautiful terrace in Thionville
As the light at the end of the tunnel begins to show, David admits being well aware that opening a bar in this time of health crisis is a big challenge. “We know that it may start nicely. A coffee is above all conviviality and there we will have to enforce distances of one meter between customers. Our capacity, which is normally 50 people, will have to be reduced to 30. ”He said, however, that he did not fear closure measures such as those taken in Marseille and Paris. “Frankly, that would surprise me. Here in Moselle, the cafetiers are very careful and disciplined. “If upon opening – if all goes well in two or three weeks – a small winter terrace,” heated “, will be offered, David and his associates know full well that it is from the first rays of spring that they will be expected. Because the location of the terrace, under the majestic lime trees sheltering you from the sun, makes it for many the most beautiful in Thionville. And by far. The new furniture, all in metal, has already been chosen. “With the wine merchant of the Domaines…, the restaurants La Prison Dorée and the Scarpetta a stone’s throw away or even the ice cream parlor, we are going to form a beautiful square over only a few meters”, rejoices the pretty Sonia in advance. His wish: “That people feel good at home, make this space the refreshment bar in the city”. As for the name, it will obviously still be L’Excelsior. “We didn’t even ask the question. “
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