It is said that there is no better way to know Parisian life than to sit at one of the many cafés, sipping coffee, watching the world pass by. Indeed, it is the street-side cafés, with their bamboo chairs and small tables under large awnings that give Paris its unique character. And it is here that you meet Parisians from all walks of life -- the couple grabbing a hurried breakfast on their way to office, the old man in a corner, the office-goer poring over a newspaper or just youngsters hanging out.

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It is said that there is no better way to know Parisian life than to sit at one of the many cafés, sipping coffee, watching the world pass by. Indeed, it is the street-side cafés, with their bamboo chairs and small tables under large awnings that give Paris its unique character. And it is here that you meet Parisians from all walks of life -- the couple grabbing a hurried breakfast on their way to office, the old man in a corner, the office-goer poring over a newspaper or just youngsters hanging out.
Cafés are as integral to the life of a Parisian as wine and cheese. To the average tourist, it is a quaint place, bustling with life, smelling of coffee, oozing with warmth. The times are a changing

The café culture is not unique to Paris, it is found all over France. Though, it is in Paris that cafés acquired a fashionable status. Surprisingly, the café culture was not born in France, it came from Turkey. But it assimilated itself into French culture in such a way that today, cafés serve 20 million people daily, according to Jean Biron, Vice Président, Union des Métiers et des Industries de l’Hotellerie, who also owns a café in La Raincy, the suburbs of Paris.

However, times are changing. Today, there are less than 50,000 cafés in France as compared to the 2,00,000 in the 1950s and the 6,00,000 in the beginning of the century. It’s sad, but true. More and more cafés are closing down. In the 1980s, the restructuring of the cities forced the closure of cafés. Even today, one finds cafés that are no longer in business in every quarter or locality. Also, the banks bought them in large numbers, as often, the cafés were located in commercially viable places. The 1980s also saw the migration of people from small towns and villages to the cities. Says Delphine Levental of Union des Métiers et des Industries de l’Hotellerie, “It is true that fast food joints came up in cities, but the cafés in small towns were more severly hit by declining clientele because of people leaving for cities in search of jobs and better opportunities.”

Bete noire: Fast food centres?

Even in cities, it was not the much talked-about golden arch of McDonald’s that was to blame, but the mushrooming of small fast-food eateries run by immigrants, mainly, Greeks, Tunisians, Turks and Algerians. Says Biron, “These eateries only require Licence 2, which is easier to acquire than Licence 4, needed to open a café.” While Licence 4 permits consumption of alcohol on the premises, Licence 2 only allows beer and wine and is, therefore, easier to acquire. And there, perhaps, lies the bigger reason behind the closure of cafés. No new Licence 4 is being given out. The only way one can acquire a Licence 4 is by buying it from someone already holding one.
“The decline in numbers has stabilised somewhat with cafés going in for diversification,” says Biron. More and more, especially, in small towns, cafés are no longer just cafés. There is often a tabac, an epicérie or a PMU outlet (selling tickets for races) attached to a café. In cities, cafés have converted into fashionable brasseries. Indeed, the oldest café in Paris, Le Procope, is now a thriving restaurant. Founded in 1686 by an Italian, Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, it was the watering hole of great thinkers and dramatists like Voltaire, Rousseau, Beaumarchais and Hugo. ,br>

Today, it is an upmarket restaurant with many reminders of the glorious past- perhaps also the most potent signal of the changing times!