In the Sud Touraine Loire Valley, in Preuilly-sur-Claise, a pretty, no-frills guinguette run by two friends is giving the whole village a boost. A guinguette is an informal outdoor bar, usually on a river, where there is live music, space to dance and simple light snacks and meals.
One of the guinguette's excellent mocktails.
You've heard of Tic and Tac, Elsa and Anna or Asterix and Obelix. But in Preuilly-sur-Claise, the best known duo (after Maria and Christian from Les Bodin's, of course) is Arthur and Anatole! The two mates, both 28 years old, run Le Lavoir, the guinguette in Preuilly-sur-Claise, in the rural Sud Touraine.
Early evening at the guinguette.
On the banks of the tranquil river Claise, this festive bar-restaurant, where people come to enjoy burgers and fries made in-house with no frills or pretensions, opened its doors three years ago. On 30 April 2022, to be exact. Anatole said that they thought they would try something small, and it turned into something big in one evening. They thought they'd have family and a few friends, but it turned into a full-on rush, with three hundred people turning up! They had to immediately rethink the way they operated. All those who had looked askance and muttered that they would last about a week had to eat their words.
The guinguette at 10 o'clock in the morning.
The two friends, both from around here, Anatole from Boussay, Arthur from Preuilly itself, are not from the mainstream hospitality sector. They only distantly knew the hotel-restaurant business. Anatole, who has a degree in tourism, did an internship in a well known local restaurant and worked for seven years in the entertainment industry, skiing in winter and surfing in summer.
Arthur, who graduated with a degree in arts and entertainment from the Tours film school, had tentatively begun to work on film shoots.
In March this year the Claise flooded. Luckily there was plenty of warning and the fire brigade assisted in removing all the valuable fridges and kitchen fittings before the guinguette was knee deep in water. The photo shows Arthur, Anatole and Louise (Anatole's girlfriend) ruefully checking their business premises after the water had receded a bit.
But for the two friends - who met as teenagers at the hairdresser's! - Covid was the catalyst. They went through the lockdowns together. Arthur had to retrain. And they were bored. So they thought, why not start their own thing?
My swimming group having lunch at the guinguette.
At the time, there were no longer any restaurants or drinking establishments in the village. The Lavoir, the municipal building that had once served as the premises of the Communist Party's pétanque club, was available. Right next to a campsite and open-air swimming pool.
Cheese and charcuterie platter at the guinguette.
The duo, working eighty hours a week in the summer, are now well established: Arthur in the kitchen, Anatole serving, backed up by a team of up to seven people in all. They only work with people they know, friends or friends of friends. The oldest of whom is only 31! A group of friends who serve up to four hundred people every evening during the week of 15 August (the Assumption Day holiday week).
The young team even organized a Joyce Jonathan [link] concert for its 2023 closing night, with 2,500 spectators... in a village of 1,000 inhabitants!
The aftermath of a quiet Friday lunch service at the end of August.
* Open from April to September every day except Tuesday, from 10.30 a.m. to 11 p.m. The kitchen is open from 12 to 2 p.m. and from 7 to 10 p.m.
* Alcohol abuse is harmful to health, consume in moderation.
13 000 -- That's how many meat burgers (vegetarian burgers are also available) were served last season at the Preuilly guinguette, consuming 1.5 tons of minced meat. Eight tons of potatoes also ended up as fries on the plates of Preuilly-sur-Claise guinguette fans.
60 -- that's how many mojito mocktails with great handfuls of fresh mint they'll make in an evening.
View up the Claise from the guinguette's covered terrace out the back.
If you head down there at 6 o'clock in the evening on a Friday, the guinguette won't yet be full to bursting. But there will be at least one small group already settled in for a drink in the shade of the hundred and fifty year old plane trees. Work colleagues such as groups of teachers come down here to take advantage of the friendly atmosphere, the space, the open air and the good weather. They appreciate that the food is good, fresh, cooked on site and made from local produce. Before the guinguette there wasn't really anywhere that colleagues, who might live in various locations up to an hour away, could get together like this.
Word has spread and people come from as far as Tours and Amboise, especially on the weekends and with families, as it is ideal for children, who can play and run around without annoying other patrons or putting themselves at risk. Themed evenings like the karaoke are especially popular. Being away from the tourist hotspots of the Loire Valley mean it is more affordable too.
A burger and French fries costs €12, a PFC ("Preuilly fried chicken") €10, and a mixed charcuterie and cheese board €12. Service is at the bar!
Source: Article from the Nouvelle République (in French) https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/indre-et-loire/commune/preuilly-sur-claise/on-va-guincher-a-preuilly-sur-claise-le-succes-fou-d-une-guinguette-de-village-lancee-par-deux-copains
1 comment:
Their PFC ("Preuilly fried chicken") is absolutely ace, as are their assorted "Burger of the Day" offerings.
I don't think they could have timed the start of their enterprise at a better time, and became established before other ventures really got started.
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