“The burst of expat energy has cooled,” said a friend who helped transform Beaune’s coffee scene. Over an allongé, he filled me in on the town’s current gloom: falling tourism, economic anxiety, and widespread belt-tightening.
Tomas Turner, who co-owns the excellent Avintures wine shop, put it bluntly: “Wine shops will fold. But maybe that’s not a bad thing. There are too many.”Le Soleil has drastically reduced hours. Crème Comptoir is flirting with burnout. La Dilettante may be for sale— the hope is that the sale goes to someone who can keep it going with the same philosophy. And I bumped into three people were were dining at Le Relais de Saulx. Never been. Have you?
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