This is John Batchel, a conversation with my colleague, Simon Constable, he's in the south of France,

about legislation passed in Paris to make it possible to reopen the bars and cafes that have closed

over these last 60 years. We're told that in 1960s, there were 200,000 cafes who could serve

alcohol and bars across France,

largely in rural France.

They all disappeared.

Simon testifies to, where are they?

Are they coming back?

200,000, down to 36,000 today.

And the French government once out reversed. Here's Simon Constable to

explain why and where. More of this later. They just vanished. Maybe they got abducted by aliens.

It really is shocking. There have been some very, very tight regulations on who and how many

basically bars, bistros that serve alcohol,

there can be in any given town, whether there are too many or not too many.

And a lot of them have disappeared from rural areas, like the area in which I live.

Now, there are some bars and bistros near where I live, but the very

closest one, which is a very tiny little hamlet, has nothing. It doesn't even have any shops.

It has a church, no shops, no bar, no nothing. And the government is trying to change that now,

and it may go through. And if it does,

that would be very good because it's a good social way to connect people who are going there just to have

a little bit of wine or maybe a beer or maybe some spirits. I think it would be very good and help

with the economy. There's a lot of people who could do with a job in rural France.

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