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Local France
11-07-2025
- Local France
What's open and what's closed in France on July 14th?
This year July 14th falls on a Monday, creating a nice long weekend for those French residents who are not already on holiday. In France it's known as La fête nationale or simply Le quatorze juillet . The day is celebrated in France with parades - the big one is on the Champs-Elysées in Paris but many smaller towns have their own events - complete with fireworks. Even quite small towns usually have some kind of evening event, usually a fireworks display and/or concert although drone light shows are becoming increasingly popular, especially in areas at higher risk of wildfires. There also the Bals de pompiers , where the local firefighters host an event at their station house - this is usually on July 14th but some are holding theirs over the weekend. READ ALSO : The Local France - News and practical guides in English In short, it's a fun day when France celebrates its history and a bit of national pomp. But what's open and what's closed? Public transport - mainline trains and bus services run as normal. City public transport may have fewer services - more akin to the Sunday timetable - but most still run. In Paris, which hosts a huge concert and firework display by the Eiffel Tower, some stations close for security reasons, but the services still run. In smaller towns, bus services may well stop completely. Shops - most large stores, supermarkets and chains will open, although they may have reduced opening hours. Smaller independent shops will usually close for the day. Boulangeries will normally be open (excluding Monday closures). Cafés, restaurants and bars - this year July 14th falls on a Monday, which is a usual closing day for many cafés and restaurants. Those that normally open on a Monday will likely be open on July 14th, although it's worth checking in advance. Some will also be holding special events that require pre-booking. Offices, banks, public buildings - banks and public buildings such as the préfecture close, along with almost all offices. Leisure facilities such as sports centres and swimming pools will usually open, but may have altered opening hours. Most tourist sites will open as usual. Advertisement Health services - most doctors and dentists will close their offices for the day, leaving the emergency and out-of-hours services. Hospitals and emergency services of course operate as normal and don't forget that pharmacies can also offer medical help - on public holidays they operate a rota system so that there is always one open in each area. Google ' pharmacie de garde ' plus the name of your commune to find the roat. READ ALSO : Urgent care: How to get out-of-hours medical treatment in France✎
Local France
02-07-2025
- Local France
OPINION: Brittany's killer seaweed reveals the dirty secret of French farming
Fourteen years ago I spent a day on a pretty beach in Brittany. I was not swimming or sun-bathing. I was, it turns out, risking my life. I described the Plage de Saint-Maurice at the time as 'the symbol of an ecological calamity which has been 40 years in the making'. 'On a sunny August day,' I wrote in 2011. 'There was not a soul walking on the sand, not a single sunbather, not a single child with a bucket or spade.' Just below the surface crust of the beach lay a seam of evil-smelling black mud, formed by rotting seaweed. Ecological campaigners were complaining that the weed – natural to the French coast but supersized by nitrogen-drenched effluent from Breton farms – was a threat to human life. Listen to John and the team at The Local France discussing the Breton beach problem on the Talking France podcast. Download here or listen on the link below Yves-Marie Le Lay, one of the campaigners, met me on the beach wearing a gas mask. He said: 'No one is removing all of this filth. Why? It is as if they are waiting for a child to die.' Advertisement Five years later, in September 2016, someone did die near the Plage de Saint-Maurice in Saint-Brieuc Bay. It was not a child but a 50-year-old jogger and father of three, Jean-René Auffray. The cause of his death has been disputed for nine years. A few days ago, a court in Nantes ruled that he was killed by seaweed. More specifically, the court decided that he had died from inhaling hydrogen sulphide, a toxic gas emitted by rotting heaps of ulva, or sea lettuce. The judges of the Nantes administrative court said that Monsieur Auffray was 40 percent to blame for his own death because he ignored warnings about running near the closed beach. They decided that the French state was 60 percent responsible because it had failed to enforce French and European environmental controls on intensive agriculture. This was a very important ruling, the first of its kind in France. It draws embarrassing attention to one of the great, institutional hypocrisies of French public life. France, we are told is a beautiful country of small, traditional family farms and quality food. Yes it is - in some places. Elsewhere, especially in Brittany and the chemical-soaked prairies of the Île-de-France and northern France, it is an intensive producer of cereals, sugar-beet and pork by methods which spoil the countryside and devastate the environment. French rivers are among the most polluted in Europe. The impact in Brittany is multiplied by the enclosed habitat of the peninsula. Nitrogen from fertiliser and animal waste pours into streams and rivers from the scores of intensive pig, cattle and maize farms created in the Breton heartland since the 1970s. They have propagated an explosion of giant sea lettuces in the estuaries of the northern coast. Attempts by campaigners like Mr Le Lay and intermittent efforts by successive governments to reduce the problem have been defeated by the powerful Breton agri-industrial lobby and the cowardice of Breton politicians. The farmers blamed global warming or phosphate pollution. The bodies of poisoned wild animals have been dumped on the doorsteps of anti-weed campaigners. Advertisement Finally, in 2021, a report by the powerful, public spending watchdog, the Cour des Comptes, concluded that the proliferation of toxic seaweed was 90 percent caused by intensive agriculture. Nothing much was done. Now the ruling by the Nantes court presents the government with a serious problem. The state has been ordered to pay the jogger's family over €300,000 in damages. Other compensation claims will follow. The timing is awkward. A joint committee of the Senate and the National Assembly this week approved a version of the 'Loi Duplomb', an attempt by a Centre-right senator, farmer and farm-lobby spokesman, Laurent Duplomb, to roll back some of the modest, environmental protections imposed on agriculture in recent years. READ ALSO : What is France's Loi Duplomb and why are farmers protesting about it?✎ Duplomb did not get things all his own way but the committee - to be followed almost certainly by the Assembly and the government - lifted a ban on an especially nasty pesticide. Advertisement Acétamipride is needed to protect the crops of large-scale beetroot farmers; unfortunately, it also kills the bees of small honey-producers. So much for France as the guardian of small, quality farming, So what will the government do - what CAN the government do - to stop the invasion of the giant, poisonous sea lettuces? Yves-Marie Le Lay, whom I met on the Plage de Saint-Maurice in 2011, is still, I'm delighted to find, campaigning, aged 75. 'There has to be a complete rethink of Brittany's model of intensive agriculture,' he said. 'So long as that is not changed, the problem will never go away.' Breton pork farmers are among the most pig-headed and belligerent of all French farmers. Who, in the present, anti-ecological mood of Far Right, Right and Centre in French politics, is brave enough to tell them that they have to keep fewer pigs or stop dumping their slurry into streams? The calamity of the north Breton beaches is now a half-century old and counting. Nothing will change soon.
Local France
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Local France
PODCAST: From strikes to extreme heat - what to expect in France this summer
Host Ben McPartland is joined by The Local France's Emma Pearson and John Lichfield for a special edition looking ahead to this summer in France. You can find the Talking France podcast on Spotify or Apple, download it here or listen on the link below Summer in France often brings strikes, and this year unions representing air traffic controllers, rail workers, Paris museum staff and the operators of the highway péages have all filed strike notices in a variety of disputes over pay and working conditions. Advertisement The usual political break might not happen this year, however, with the prime minister trying to sell his Budget ideas and the possibility of French elections - will PM François Bayrou make it through the summer? And what will await him when parliament restarts in September? It's already pretty hot in France, so we're looking at how hot it's likely to get this summer plus some tips for staying cool via the French government and why French doctors don't like ice-cold air conditioning. Finally we have a few tips for some events to enjoy this summer. The podcast will now be taking a break over the summer but, much like the prime minister, we hope to return in September. Talking France is a free podcast made possible by the support of members of The Local, you can find out more about becoming a member here . Extra reading: Planes, trains and museums: The strikes to expect in France this summer How hot will it get in France this summer OPINION: Another week, another attempt to bring down the French government
Local France
26-06-2025
- Local France
PODCAST: The story of Brittany's killer algae and where you can avoid the tourists in France
Host Ben McPartland is joined by The Local France's Emma Pearson, Genevieve Mansfield and John Lichfield for all the latest news and talking points from France. We start with the toxic algae that is spreading in Brittany and is, a court has ruled, responsible for the death of a local jogger - it's a verdict that potentially has big implications for the region, and for France's farmers. You can find the Talking France podcast on Spotify or Apple, download it here or listen on the link below Following successful Olympic trials last summer, swimming in the Seine will be opened up to the general public - we're explaining how you can take a dip in the river, and the conditions for doing so. Advertisement Champagne might be a luxury product, but there is a definite dark side to the industry, as an ongoing human trafficking trial has exposed. And France broke its own tourism records last year and is set to do so again this year - there's no doubt the country is massively popular as a holiday destination, but how has it managed to avoid protests against over-tourism like those seen in Spain, Italy and Portugal? We finish off with a list of France's most over-crowded sites, with our recommendations for alternatives that are just as good (perhaps even better) but less well known. Talking France is a free podcast made possible by the support of members of The Local - you can find out more about becoming a member here . If you like the podcast you can also help us to keep it going by subscribing, writing a nice review or just telling a friend about it. Extra reading: Green algae found along French coastline responsible for jogger's death, rules court 10 alternatives to France's overcrowded tourist hotspots French champagne makers face human trafficking trial Everything you need to know about swimming in the Seine in Paris this summer How has France avoided Europe's anti-tourism protests?
Local France
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Local France
PODCAST: France shocked by 'senseless' school violence and the inventions you never knew were French
Host Ben McPartland is joined by The Local France's Emma Pearson, Genevieve Mansfield and John Lichfield for the latest episode of the Talking France podcast. We begin this week with a shocking incident that has rocked the French education system. After a French teaching assistant was stabbed to death by a pupil outside of a secondary school, we discuss how the government plans to tackle school violence. You can find the Talking France podcast on Spotify or Apple, download it here or listen on the link below. We also discuss why the Seine River might soon be considered a 'person', and how this could help conservationists better protect it in the future. Plus, we reveal what we know about Paris's second, secret river. Advertisement The Talking France team also gives you the latest on planned changes around flight compensation rules in France and Europe. We also look at the ongoing threat of far-right, extremist violence in France, after France's anti-terrorism prosecutors announced that they had launched their first-ever investigation into an attack linked to far-right extremism. Stick around until the end to guess which world-changing inventions came from France. EXTRA READING France eyes social media ban for under-15s after school stabbing 12 world-changing inventions that came from France Paris unveils plans to bring forgotten underground river back to surface Paris seeks personhood status for River Seine ANALYSIS: How much of a threat is extreme-right violence in France? Passenger compensation for flight delays set to decrease in Europe Talking France is a free podcast made possible by the support of paying members of The Local - you can find out more about becoming a member here . You can also help us by leaving a nice review, sharing the podcast on social media, or just telling a friend about us.
