Breadless in Abeilhan

Courier Countryside Column for 15 August 2014

Not Enough Bread for Village Shops to Survive

Quel désastre!  The bread shop in the square has closed.  As long as I’ve been visiting the little Languedoc village of Abeilhan there’s always been a boulangerie opposite the bar.

Other institutions have come and gone. Some years back the tobacconist and the pharmacy deserted the square for new premises down on the main road.  The bar itself seems to have been tottering on the brink of closure for years. Its main customers appear to be agricultural workers knocking back a quick pastis first thing in the morning on their way to tend the vines. In July and August a few tourists or second homeowners take a beer of an evening, sitting under the ancient pine tree and watching the colours change on the stonework of the surrounding houses. It may be crowded to bursting point during the village’s various fêtes. But such sporadic custom can hardly provide a living for the owner.

What we can’t understand is why it doesn’t amalgamate with the now moribund restaurant/pizzeria next door. This used to be run by Carole and her chef-husband Thierry. The pizzas were excellent, the salads adventurous, the ice creams fabulous, although most everything else on the over-extensive menu was very average.

Nonetheless the ambiance was superb and one could forgive the stunningly slow service: Carole was reluctant to take on any help other than her teenage daughter regardless of how many customers she had. But she and Thierry lost heart. Rushed off their feet for six weeks in the summer but then without a single customer on numerous winter nights meant that their average income was well below the minimum wage.

Visitors dream of how it could be. The bar and restaurant knocked into one with café-style tables set out in the square.  Local village wines served along with simple home cooked food. And then someone will say: “Well, why don’t we do it then? Sell up in England and buy the place.” And then there’s silence as they contemplate the long lonely winter nights.

But to lose the bread shop is sad. The little grocer’s next door does sell bread, but it’s no longer baked on the premises.  And it’s nearly a euro a baguette - double the price at the supermarket a couple of kilometers away.

The truth is that, whether in rural France or home in Kent, keeping village shops alive is becoming more and more difficult.