Jérôme Gomis, manager of the Mastroquet market for 14 years, seems annoyed. The sky has not yet fallen on his head, but the ceiling of his establishment located at 42 boulevard de Strasbourg, does. This Thursday, October 14 at 9:30 a.m. at the start of service, the ceiling partially fell on the false ceiling, which then collapsed on the morning of Thursday, October 14.

“An iron bar went through the false ceiling, and a large plaque fell off”, details Jérôme Gomis. The whole thing was held back by cables, as well as falling debris and causing injuries. The restaurateur consoles himself, “If it weren’t for the cables, the ceiling might have fallen on our waitress who is located just below, and on the customers… It could have been much more serious “. Since then, the entire ceiling threatens to collapse.

Firefighters forced to intervene

The firefighters are installed on the scene an hour later to cordon off the perimeter, evacuate the building and acquire the premises.

“They were very quick and efficient”, emphasizes Jérôme Gomis. A prefectural decree was taken to close the establishment, which can no longer receive customers until the new order.

A “substantial shortfall”

For Jérôme Gomis, this umpteenth blow of its kind is difficult to take. “After the yellow vests and the closure obligations during the demonstrations, and almost two years of shutdown with the Covid, it’s hard “. It had been barely four months since he and his seven employees had reprisals from the service, they are now technically unemployed.

“We held on thanks to the helpers, now we don’t have any …” he recalled, with the abolition this month of the Solidarity Fund for businesses set up by the government to compensate for losses due to the health crisis. “And after such a long period of closure, we had to find a new clientele in June, then the health pass forced me to refuse people … “, he said annoyed.

The restorer assures him, the “loss of earnings is significant “ and now there is doubt as to the financial survival of its establishment.