[FILE] Café de la Poste in Bagnols-sur-Cèze: from tobacco bar to coffee and tobacco café

It is a place steeped in history which found a new owner at the end of January. Municipal archives of Bagnols-sur-Cèze

Active for more than a century, the historic drinking establishment had been closed for eighteen months. Its commercial lease, never reported, has just been taken over, with the aim of turning it into a tobacconist.

On the morning of January 24, almost at the corner of Boulevard Lacombe and Place Boissin, the Café de la Poste was crowded. Despite its closure a year and a half earlier due to the devastating cancer which killed his boss, Christophe, who left on September 8, 2022.

To the curious present that day, the place must have seemed a little ghostly, haunted by so many memories,  happy gossip around a coffee,' #39;a half, a newspaper. To talk rugby, often (see box). That day, however, none of that, but the auction of the business, placed in liquidation after the death to settle the inheritance.

Third largest Tabac du Gard in the 60s~60s~/h2>

Among the audience, other figures from the past were present. And who knows maybe about its future. Corine, in fact, a tobacconist 200 meters away, at the gates of Escanaux, could take advantage of the premises to move her business.

Then there was Josée, of course, and finally Dominique, said "Dom". Dom , he's Cristophe's brother. He retired from the business in 2013, but Dom still owns the walls of a building belonging to the Juillaguet family since June 86. His father had bought the property. together, building and café, to the Lernoux family… which then succeeded that of Josée.

Her in-laws and her late husband, the Lhermes, ran the café "for 19 years, from 60 to 79! (following Veyret, Editor's note, see box) C&#39 ;it was my mother-in-law who transformed everything! It brings back a little bit of memories… We were ranked third in Gard in terms of tobacco sales , she recounted, nostalgic. Ithurt, still…"

Residents of Place Boissin were wondering outside about the future of the café: "as long as it does not become a pied-à-terre for the traffic of narcotics!". While the master bailiff set the price at 30,000 euros, Corine came forward. To his right, among a group of men isolated from the rest of the curious and nostalgic, a person discreetly raised his hand: "Thirty two hundred", said the bailiff. Corine reacted immediately: "Thirty-one!" "31 once. 31 twice… 31 three times, it's sold!"

Transfer of power

After sincere congratulations and a few sentences exchanged addressed to his new tenant, Dom finally threw an arm towards the counter where, in a trophy, an old deflated rugby ball sat: "On the other hand, will you mind if I get the ball ? It was my 40th birthday present".& nbsp;Thus he took with him a totem of his almost forty years of attachment.

Corinne, a tobacconist 200 meters away, is taking over the premises to move her business there. Midi Libre – Geoffrey Gavalda

Outside, Corine was delighted. She didn't expect to win so easily: "I had room, but I didn't even think it would be ;to have, to tell the truth". With the commercial lease, it inherits all the equipment and the IV business license (the authorization to offer catering and all types of alcoholic beverages). This, of course, will not be useful to him, the Café de la Poste has finished serving coffee.

The former headquarters of the local oval

Former deputy mayor of Bagnols-sur-Cèze Gérard Revol testifies: "It’s a café with quite a history. The owners arrived from the Landes. It was the Lherm family. She had taken over from the Veyrets. They were Auvergne people who were passionate about rugby. The café then became the headquarters of the local oval. The discipline will write the beautiful pages of its history there. In 1991 the club celebrated its 30th anniversary with the creation of a youth tournament… the Guy Roger Lherme challenge!"

This page of the café des sports has since been closed. For René Cret, another former mayor of Bagnols-sur-Cèze, the judicial liquidation of the Café de la Poste which has changed hands several times is a non-event. "This is the normal evolution of the history of this place of life."

(comments collected by Thierry Mbom)

Also read: Café de la poste in Bagnols: the old "stronghold" bowlers

Also read: Café de la poste in Bagnols: already a tobacco bar at the beginning of the 20th century

I subscribe to read more