Le Tango, a historic nightclub in the Marais bought at the end of 2021 by the town hall of Paris to save it from real estate speculation, will reopen on Friday March 10 after three years of closure. The last evening took place on March 7, 2020, a few days before the start of the first confinement.
Three years later, one of the oldest dance halls in the capital, which went from a guinguette in 1896 to a haunt of the gay community in 1997, will once again play past and current hits every weekend, confirmed Tuesday to the AFP Hervé Latapie, president of the cooperative created to operate it.
However "it is likely that the Tango will have to close again", from the second quarter of 2024, due to the "heavy rehabilitation" planned for the social housing located on the floors, warns the general manager of the social landlord Elogie-Siemp Valérie from Brem.
At the end of 2021, the City of Paris acquired this old building on the ground floor of which the nightclub is located for 6,7 million euros, with the aim of achieving a double blow with the transformation into social housing of the 8 apartments above.
Since the takeover, Elogie-Siemp, to which the City has entrusted the building for 65 years against a capitalized rent of 3,1 million euros, and the cooperative have carried out work to bring it up to standard, in particular fire.
But apart from the renovated bar, "nothing has changed inside", indicates Hervé Latapie, who leads the some 500 shareholders of the cooperative society with collective interest, with a capital of 200.000 euros.
In addition to the openings on Friday and Saturday, the cooperative plans "cultural activities" not only centered on LGBT issues, such as a "family ball", says Mr. Latapie.
