In Sète, around the Place du Pouffre, the centre of the Saint-Louis festival, businesses are taking stock

Sur la place de la mairie de Sète, les terrasses rouvrent dans le calme et la tranquillité. Midi Libre – GUILLAUME CROS

Life on the Place du Pouffre, the beating heart of the Saint-Louis, has resumed its course. At the end of this explosive celebration, the shopkeepers of the square all have their say.

The images are still fresh in our memories. For six days, the Place du Pouffre, known as Place Léon-Blum, known as Place de la Mairie, became the reactor of Sète. The Saint-Louis festival makes this place of life unmissable, bordering on the sacred. The speech by Mayor François Commeinhes, the countless parades of jousters, plus the plates of macaronade and glasses of pastis that parade by. Outside the royal setting, the epicentre of the Saint-Louis was the Place du Pouffre. On Wednesday 28 August, the day after the festival officially closed, the shops gradually woke up. Some on the right foot, others on the wrong foot.

Food and Drink

At Maison Verte, breakfasts follow one another on the terrace. The co-manager, Cédric, is satisfied with how this 280th edition went. The restaurant closed at 8 p.m. Located between the quayside bars of Boule and Cave à Manger, Maison Verte preferred to centralize its activity on the morning and noon service. A strategy that paid off since early risers gathered there.

La Cave à Manger had an opposite strategy, as it was setting up a dockside bar for the third year. Closing times were much later, around 3 a.m. The restaurant was thus transformed into a party venue, where the best sellers were, unsurprisingly, beer and wine. The owner, Fred, made nearly “€20,000” in profits, , although this margin is tempered by the exceptional cost of equipment and overtime for employees. La Saint-Louis, in reality, “is mainly for the prestige and exposure,” he explains. As a bonus, no overflow has been recorded on his side.