It is a consequence of the energy crisis, several cities decide to ban patio heaters this winter. These heaters consume a lot and also pollute. Banning them is a way to save money, but not all café owners and restaurateurs agree.
Having a drink on the terrace is always a pleasure, whatever the season, for Michel and Éric. This winter in Namur, however, there will be no way to warm up: “If there is no heating, we will freeze them, that’s for sure!“
The city of Namur actually imposes a decision voted before the Covid crisis, but precipitated by the rise in the price of energy.
The energy consumption of a terrace equipped with five braziers lit fourteen hours a day, from mid-November to mid-March would exceed 50,000 KWH per winter. This is equivalent to the energy consumption of a new car over 120,000 km travelled.
The measure is completely justified, given the context, by Stéphanie Scailquin, the alderwoman for trade in the city of Namur: “If already yesterday, it was incongruous to have heaters on the terrace, to heat the outside, today all the more so. It’s nonsense to have this type of heating on the terrace and I think everyone understands it even better today“.
And yet, on the side of the tenants, it’s a hell of a tile. Clément sees his terrace full, even in winter: “ODidn’t look a bit, it’s between 10 and 15€ per day, a patio heater. A filled terrace brings in a lot more“, he remarks
Others fear that customers will leave Namur for the outskirts, where the ban is not in force. They regret a lack of national uniformity: “We should have done it all over Belgium, we are in the same country. If you go to Profondeville, you know how to have a coffee on the terrace and smoke a cigarette. Here, people are going to say to themselves ‘hey, are we going or are we not going?‘” fears Lokman, owner of a nearby cafe.
Namur is not the only city to have made this choice. Tournai, Ath and several Brussels municipalities are following suit.