Any self-respecting native or adopted Lille resident knows where to go to party. If there are neighborhoods favorable to the bamboche, that of Masséna-Solférino is even more particularly so, very popular with students for the number of bars and clubs per m2 that it shelters. This concentration of nocturnal establishments, and therefore of revelers, is in the crosshairs of the town hall, in particular for the frequent nuisances that this causes. And on Friday, the city of Lille hit hard.
The municipality has never hidden its desire to make nightlife and neighborhood life coexist, Martine Aubry often welcoming a preserved mix between residents and festive places in the city center. But keeping this mix requires concessions on both sides and, in Masséna-Solférino, living together is sometimes difficult.
On the one hand, the local residents have formed a collective to denounce the nuisances, on the other the bars and clubs are struggling to contain a very euphoric clientele. However, and the owners of establishments have signed it, the nightlife charter stipulates that it is up to them to police their customers.
Six nightclubs reclassified as bars
Except that this is not always the case, suddenly, “in the face of nuisances and security problems, the City of Lille is firmly pursuing its actions so that local residents can live in the legitimate tranquility to which they aspire”, declares the municipality in a press release. Actions which resulted, Thursday evening, in a raid by the city services and the national police in six nightclubs in the Masséna district.
And the results of the operation are heavy. Two nightclubs, the Kase and the Mac Allans, are subject to administrative closure until further notice for “the danger they represent for the safety of people”. These two establishments will only be able to reopen after the completion of the “compliance work”. Nevertheless, even if they get the green light from the fire safety commission, the Kase and the Mac Allans will have to revise their opening amplitude downwards since, according to the town hall, “they do not currently meet the criteria for qualify as a discotheque. »
This requalification as a bar, involving a closing at 2 a.m. instead of 7 a.m., also concerns the four other establishments targeted by the control on Thursday evening. If the city did not note any problem in terms of security, it did however highlight the lack of facilities, in particular a dance floor, which could justify maintaining their status as a nightclub. Decidedly, the festive nights are shortening to a trickle in Lille.
