Paris cafes, restaurants and bars to reopen on June 2 as France continues to ease coronavirus lockdown

Paris cafes, restaurants and bars to reopen on June 2 as France continues to ease coronavirus lockdown.

FRANCE’S PM Édouard Philippe announced last week that cafes, bars and restaurants would be able to reopen in Paris on June 2 in Phase 2 of the country’s easing of lockdown measures. To allow for social distancing, tables will be placed much further apart and establishments will be prohibited from serving customers inside.

Cafes, restaurants and bars have forever been an integral part of Parisian culture.

But their reopening will be a mass relief for Paris’ restaurateurs, who have been hit hard by the lockdown losing them the majority of their usual turnover.

Life will not go back to normal for restaurant owners anytime soon as social distancing rules and the restriction on serving customers inside may still only bring back a percentage of custom.

In a move to make the situation easier for restaurateurs, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo’s office will allow terraces to be extended beyond the usual borders until September. Paris also intends to temporarily shut streets in tourism hotspots to create extra space.

However, to ensure local residents can still get peace and quiet, establishments will have to stick to a 10-point charter, to be displayed in their windows, which includes closing at 10pm and ample space that allows pedestrians to pass.

“Paris has to stand in solidarity with our restaurants and bars,” Hidalgo told local paper, Le Parisien, on Sunday. “They are the soul of our city.”