L'enseigne du Chalutier s'est effondrée vers 14 h ce mercredi 22 janvier. Midi Libre – E. Be
The premises were secured on Wednesday, January 22, after the sign of a stall in the Nîmes market halls collapsed on it. After an inspection of the premises, the site should reopen tomorrow, Thursday.
“According to the team leader of the building department, during the work carried out by the companies commissioned by Socri, a rainwater downpipe was affected on Tuesday (January 21), but without the workers noticing. Fortunately, there was no one there when the sign collapsed, it could have been dramatic…” Christophe Pio, deputy mayor delegated to the Halles de Nîmes, does not minimize the incident that occurred on Wednesday, January 22: around 2 p.m., while the stallholders were packing up, the sign of fishmonger Anthony Moreno collapsed on his stall. In the process, the City of Nîmes decided to urgently close the site for safety reasons.
“Get out of here, it's going to fall”
“When I arrived this morning, there was water flowing everywhere on my stand, I couldn't open it, says Anthony Moreno, who has been in the halls for 4 years now. I notified my insurer, who ended up contacting the director of La Coupole. A plasterer was sent to come and assess the damage. His assessment was clear: the ceiling was soaked with water. He went up to see and when he came back down, he told me “Get out of here, it's okay fall”. By the time he came back with an electrician, the sign was on the ground…” Five minutes earlier, his employee was still busy on the stand.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000“Can you imagine if someone had come by at that moment ?, Thierry Bosc gets carried away. For several months, work to prepare for the arrival of Galeries Lafayette has started upstairs, but now, we've hit the hard stuff, let's say. The CEO of Socri-Rem had assured us that they would respect our work pace, but that's not the case. From 8 a.m. in the morning, it's banging.” “This morning, my glasses were shaking because of the vibrations from the work,”adds Emmanuel Lebay, head of the restaurant-counter La Pie qui couette. This incident occurs in a context of tension between the stallholders of the market halls and the town hall of Nîmes over the works, which everyone nevertheless considers necessary, but which will lead to a total closure of the place for eighteen months from 2030.
Read also: “We are not even summoned to our own birthday!” The anger of the stallholders on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the Nîmes covered market
“It's a concrete building that dates from the 70s, water is seeping in everywhere and with the work on the first floor, it's getting worse”, notes, pointing to water dripping from the ceiling, Thierry Bosc, who mentions “the basement full of water. Currently, there is a bay where there is at least 3 cm of water over 50 meters. And with the rain not expected to stop, we don't know what it will give!”
€8,000 worth of goods that will end up in the trash
Anthony Moreno, meanwhile, knows that he won't be able to reopen tomorrow, Thursday, or even Friday: “I have €7,000 to €8,000 worth of goods in the basement. It's all going to end up in the trash!”, notes, shaking his head, the owner of Le Chalutier. The deputy mayor in charge of the market halls, Christophe Pio, nevertheless wants to be reassuring: “I went there, I spoke with Mr. Moreno. I also had the boss of Sorci who assured me that he would use the special insurance they have to compensate before the experts come.”
Concerning the closure of the market halls, “Workers are on site to finish securing the stand and the water pipe has been repaired. The halls will be able to reopen tomorrow morning”. But for Christophe Pio, this accident clearly shows the urgency of undertaking work in the halls: “We have problems at all levels, we must act. I am also being received this Friday by the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard who has also carried out major work in his halls in order to discuss with him how this went.” The Béziers works were not carried out without problems, the transition to private management having led to a drastic reduction in the number of stallholders… “That's why we want the town hall to keep control!”, proclaims Christophe Pio.
In the meantime, for the stallholders, this incident is not about to be forgotten: “Today, we no longer know if we are working safely. When we know that an escalator is going to be installed on this structure to access the Galeries Lafayette, we can legitimately be worried…”
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