While it had just opened, the only sex shop in Ruffec was closed by the town hall. The business is less than 200 m as the crow flies from the Sacré-Coeur primary school, which is prohibited by law. However, it is not at all visible from the school.
This January 13, 2023, bitterness dominates for Nicolas Delisle. Barely opened, his love shop, Les 100 Tabous, was forced to close by a municipal decree. “I invested 120,000 euros, maybe you should tell me before“, he exclaims. In question: his business, intended to welcome customers, is located less than 200 m from a school.
“Unfortunately, I am prevented from working“, deplores Nicolas Delisle, the municipal decree ordering the closure of his establishment in the hands. A request for closure which would come from the prefecture of Charente after the discovery of the existence of the trade by this one in an article from Charente Libre. The decree is justified by “the provision of pornographic objects“in a room”located less than 200 m from the Sacré Coeur primary school“, located at 50 rue Boitant.
This order is based on the law of March 5, 2007 reforming child protection. “The installation, less than two hundred meters from an educational establishment, of an establishment whose activity is the sale or the making available to the public of objects of a pornographic nature is prohibited. Violation of this article is punishable by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.“, specifies the text.
In 2012, in Paris, a similar case caused controversy. The lawyer of the condemned manager, Me Malka, denounced a nonsense of the law. According to him, if the text were applied strictly, “the only places where we could still install this type of business in Paris would be cemeteries, parks and railways”, reported Liberation.
The establishment is not visible from the school, so it is not inconvenient.
Aurélie Boucher, head of the Sacré Coeur private school group
When questioned, the head of the Sacré Cœur private school group, Aurélie Boucher, assures that she is not at the origin of this request. “We discovered the existence of this store yesterday in the press article. It is not in front of the establishment, it is not visible to us from the school, so it is not inconvenient“, she says. If the establishment is less than 200 meters from the primary school, as the crow flies, it is not on the way to school.
In the streets of Ruffec, the trend is also towards tolerance. “I don’t mind at all, if it’s not in plain sight“, responds a resident. “I don’t know if there’s a clientele for that, but people do what they want, I don’t have a problem with that.“says another.
For his part, Nicolas Delisle, claims to have received the oral agreement of the mayor of Ruffec, Thierry Bastier, when he decided to install his love shop in place of his CBD store which was then held there. In addition to the sale of sex toys, X movies and lingerie, the establishment had to accommodate the public, including massage rooms and viewing rooms. The idea was based on the lack of establishments on the territory, in particular for the LGBT community, as Nicolas Delisle assures us: “I see gays and lesbians who have no place to meet here, you have to go either to Poitiers or to Angoulême.“
The manager of the establishment even received a municipal decree authorizing him to place his signs and a rainbow flag on the facade. “I’ve been struggling for 1 year, I work day and night, I renovated the premises, it cost a lot of moneylists Nicolas Delisle, touched by the decision. And now I can’t work anymore! I have 10,000 euros worth of merchandise coming in and I don’t know what to do with it!” Asked several times by France 3, the town hall did not wish to speak. Distraught, the trader wishes, meanwhile, to take steps to challenge this decision.
In Ruffec, barely open, a sex shop is closed by the town hall