Guinguettes were popular drinking establishments located in the suburbs of Paris and other cities in France. Guinguettes would also serve as restaurants and, often, as dance venues. The origin of the term comes from guinguet, indicating a sour white light local wine.[1] A Goguette was a similar kind of establishment.
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During the 18th century, a consumer revolution led once isolated villages and hamlets outside Paris to be swept up in a booming material culture. Commodities, and particularly alcohol, consumed outside the customs barrier of the city were considerably cheaper, being exempt from state taxes. This encouraged the growth of an entertainment industry just beyond the taxman's reach and a network of drinking establishments was established. They were especially popular on Sundays and holidays, when Parisians would visit to enjoy themselves and to get drunk cheaply.[2] Today, the term 'guingette' is still used for a waterside refreshment place, particularly open-air, all over France.[3]
The development of railways in the 1880s and the establishment of the station of "Gare de La Bastille" with many trains to the east suburbs of Paris (such as Nogent sur Marne) contributed to the success of guinguettes.[3]
The majority are on the edges of the Seine and the Marne, and some are in a district that stretches to the outskirts of Rouen. Some guinguettes were however far from the rivers, as the picturesque guinguettes of le Plessis-Robinson built among the chestnut trees. There were hundreds of guinguettes as far away as Nogent-sur-Seine, where the nature of the Seine valley changes most.
Today guinguettes are an object of nostalgia for those who lived in the period. The guinguettes were marvellous places to return to lighter times during the mad years of the 1920s. They were obviously an eminent subject for painting during the first half of the 20th century.
But television and the ban on bathing in the rivers in the 1960s caused the decline of guinguettes. This ban was justified for reasons of hygiene (water quality deteriorated in the 1960s and 1970s) and security (the risk due to barge traffic and drowning). In the 1960s, guinguettes became a matter for nostalgia. Many people forgot guinguettes, as the French scriptwriter Michel Audiard had one of his characters point out. Since the 1980s, there is a certain revival, particularly in the loops of the Marne river. Even now in 2008, some guinguettes remain opened every week-end.
As of 2011 a gradual return to modern Guinguettes had started.[4]