Toulouse paralyzed by the heat wave

Heat wave et August 15 Week do not mix well at Toulouse… The streets are deserted, the shops emptied of their customers and the terraces without strollers. Report in the streets of the pink city.

A place in the virgin Capitol of passers -by

Tuesday August 12, 2025, noon and a half, on the – usually – bubbling and very busy Place du Capitole. Under the hit sun and no less than 33 ° C of the thermometer, passers -by are rare. And yet, the mercury has not finished climbing …

Where the terraces usually abound in tourists during this period conducive to the holidays, today, they are not even not half -filled. And this is a situation that restaurateurs have been seeing for several days. “During a classic summer, we have many more people, 10 to 20 times more people On our terrace. August is a very big month. But the more hot it is, the more lunch is calm. We see it since this weekend, where customers are rare ”, regret Olivierthe manager of the restaurant Les Illustres.

“We didn’t have a client” in an hour

Let’s walk to Roger Salengro’s square … Here, the walk is strangely calm: There is little noise where generally the tea rooms et boutiquesswarm of people. At the house of Maud CordelManager of the treasures of La Violette (souvenir boutique updating the Violet of Toulouse, editor’s note), the situation is also critical: “In the morning, we have a little bit of people, but it empties very quickly in the afternoon. Yesterday, Between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., we did not have a client ”.

Big impact on turnover

On the side of ready-to-wearthe trend is the same: “I expected to have no one, but this morning, it was, with a majority of tourist . On the other hand, this afternoon, it will not be the same … What saves us from other businesses is still to still have a summer collectionwith shorts, dresses … that’s what people want to consume, ”explains Rachel manager of the Swap rue Saint-Rome store.

But among the two merchants, the observation is the same: the turnover is impacted. “It is not caught up, what is lost is lost, while usually, the week of August 15 is one of the best for us,” says Maud.

“Meal times like in Spain”

So, the only solution for merchants and restaurateurs is still s’adapter Rather than undergoing. “We have completely quirky of our teams, with later evening servicesfrom two to three o’clock. At 8 p.m., 9 p.m., even at 10 p.m., people come to eat. We end up with Meal times like in Spain and that is totally linked to the heat wave, ”adds the manager of the illustrious.

In shops, some have made the same choices. Maud claims to have “Adapted his schedules”,To welcome the public during the hours coolest.

So despite maddening temperatures and which border on records, those who bring the pink life to life try to follow the rhythm, but it cannot be long in the situation coming back to normal …

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