In Angers, workers' restaurants are gradually disappearing from the landscape

In the dining room of the Relais de l'Arceau, dishes are piled high on the tables. Small flasks orphaned by their red wine, plates with burgundy rims, worn cutlery, carafes, slates—everything is for sale, from the beer tap to the blinds and the luminous ceiling tiles. The workers' restaurant in the Deux-Croix-Banchais district, located in the east of Angers, closed its doors on June 20, more than sixty years after its creation. It now belongs to the real estate developer who will erase it from the landscape to build a beautiful four-story residence.

Emmanuelle Geffard and Christelle Delias, 47-year-old twin sisters, have been at the helm since 2009. They decided to sell all the equipment during an unprecedented "restaurant sale ." They are leaving reluctantly but don't want to take anything with them. "From the beginning, the developers have been pestering us. We could see ourselves retiring here, but at some point, we said we had to think about it," says the latter.

Their colleagues at Khephren, a few kilometers further south, didn't have this opportunity. Their workers' restaurant closed on June 21, but with no buyer or developer on the lookout. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, another epidemic has hit the city. One after the other, Le Colombier, Le Saint-Clair, Le Lorette, Au Laboureur, Le Mermoz, and L'Aiglon have closed their doors. And two others are for sale.

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