The corner café...
The corner café, the bistro on the square... in the city, as in small villages, these places are small permanent assemblies, which evolve over the course of the day, where people tell and are told about each other, where the past is remembered, where the future is imagined, where the news is crossed and spread, where people argue, where they like each other, where they are, together, from the same place... in short, they are modest places, but extremely important!
Yes, but here it is...
Yes, but... these cafés, these bistros, are disappearing in the villages, which are themselves in the process of extinction.
Little by little, the shops have closed, slowly suffocated by the decrease of the population and by the opening, not far away, on the outskirts of the neighboring town, of the shopping mall duly equipped with its "big surface". So?
So, an unusual idea...
So Sébastien Cherrier has an idea, an unusual idea at first sight... a former secondhand dealer, he is used to moving around, unpacking here today, and elsewhere tomorrow... and so he has the idea of moving around... with a bar!
He creates a "café truck" (in French today, we say "bar truck"!), and decides to go from village to village. He starts alone and with not much: his truck, a market umbrella, and a few tables and chairs from a second-hand shop.
And he starts... in the middle of winter!
And these first months of activity show him that, in spite of the weather, the cold, the desire and the need are there, and that, even weekly, his passage corresponds well to a desire, a need, a lack.
Very coherent with his approach, and to avoid that the prices are an obstacle, he practises prices that he qualifies himself as being "associative" prices!
A "snowball" idea.
His idea was very well received, and aroused not only sympathy, but also concrete help. A new counter was built by a cabinetmaker, a plumber "sponsored" a new arbor, the town halls mentioned his visit on their websites, and ideas came to them: what if we put a bowling alley next door...
The "knowledgeable" would undoubtedly say that this activity creates "social links" or revives the "social fabric" which is well worn! In fact, quite simply, this "truck café", well named "C'est l'Occaz" brings life back to life...
And it is undoubtedly for this reason, fundamental, that its notoriety made "snowball" and extended very beyond its tour of the villages of Cher. The local and regional newspapers talked about it, of course, but also national newspapers, radios, and even foreign press organs, which underlines that there is a real problem in the villages, deeply felt, and that this initiative contributes, for its part, to its solution.
To have a drink with him...
If you are from the region and you don't know him yet, or if you are just passing through, on vacation in the Cher, here are the places and the schedule he gave us:
From 6 to 10 pm :
Every other Monday Morogues or Achères
Tuesday Jussy le Chaudrier
Wednesday Farges en Septaine or Herry
Thursday Lessay d'Anguillon or Villabon
Friday Thauvenay or Oizon
Saturday Saint Léger le Petit or Marseille les Aubigny
One Sunday per month Humbliny
Cherrier Sébastien
It's the Occaz
Phone : 07 60 64 27 88
facebook : BAR TRUCK " C'est L'occaz " (in French)
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
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