No idea if the BBC is correct, what do they know about France 
But in Sud Ouest and other French Press there have been quite a few reports of new eateries opening in our area. OH and I love trying out new places and are waiting for the floods/tempests to vanish so we can get out and about again 
â25 establishments close every day,â warns Franck ChaumĂšs, whether they are fast food or traditional restaurants. According to INSEE, 8,681 businesses were forced to close their doors in the hotel and restaurant industry between January 2024 and January 2025 â a 10.2% increase from the previous year and a 17.7% increase compared to the 2010-2019 average. This failure rate is higher than in other sectors, according to the Banque de France, and particularly noticeable in rural areas, adds the UMIH.
Tourism is down, people donât feel as well off for various reasons - Iâm sure there are other factors.
In the UK I would add that the restaurant market is getting oversaturated and there is increasing competition from take out delivery services.
Pubs are also closing here at an alarming rate - but people just donât go to the pub and drink these days.
the link reads: " Bistros serving traditional cuisine are closing at the rate of 25 a day"
then goes on to say âwhether they are fast food or traditional restaurantsâ
So itâs talking gobbledy gook as far as I am concerned.
I stopped bothering with BBC yonks ago and sleep easier for it .. and suffer less indigestion 
Seems to be talking mostly about Paris and Biarritz⊠
in September 2025.
I tend to read local Press like Sud Ouest and Ouest-France which talk about my part of France⊠and we do have some new eateries to discover.. hurrah.
EDIT: thanks for pointing me at another interesting daily read though..
Serves them right in our area, terrible food, how on earth they can call themselves chefs is a mystery. Oh you want legumes, chef, whereâs the tin opener and no, donât bother to warm the legumes either.
In many restos it appears that it is Mike who does the actual cookingâŠ.. Ding!
Whilst that goes on in many with chill cook bought in foods, I have seen the Brake Brothers van pull up at two of our restoâs. The two lovely old ladies down the road from us offered traditional food they prepared and cooked themselves gave up and closed over COVID.
Round us too, the restaurant trade has never recovered from covid and the places that are opening are only fast food or take-away eateries - another 2 taco places have opened in town. Theyâll last about 10 minutes.
We have mostly pizzerias, fast (âstreetâ) food, chicken joints and kebabs. One of the pizzerias does a decent menu midday during the week, and a traditional resto has recently opened here too, which is okay (we tried it on the first day: oeufs meurettes and beef tongue). Thereâs another traditional French resto and a couscous place, both run by the same family.
Out of town - maybe 5km away - thereâs a really good modern French resto and, in the other direction, a more traditional one.
Iâd say weâre lucky, but the key thing seems to be running any resto as a family business and being prepared for long, hard hours (and lots of admin and tax).
Cooking from scratch is hard work and maybe restaurateurs no longer have much of an appetite for it.
With that will come the decline just as it has in so many countries. USAâs greatest export junk food, the ultra rich making people sick with junk, owning the pharmaceutical companies to get you on board to keep you on board then as early onset dementia and other diseases occur they will book you into a really expensive care home needing you to sell the family home to afford it. Not a bad business model for the ultra rich.
Sorry to depress everyone but itâs observational in the USA, and UK.
You only have to watch âMy 600lb Lifeâ to see the damage junk food does.
Yep.
I really value the good restaurants we have, because (I think) you can tell food has been prepared from basic ingredients.
But tonight, itâs a supermarket pizza
He knows, having asked, what he was told by French people in a position to know.
See above.
Sheer prejudice.
âJohn Laurenson est un correspondant de la BBC en France. InstallĂ© Ă Paris depuis la fin des annĂ©es 1980, il a fait ses dĂ©buts dans le bureau parisien du groupe de presse Ă©conomique McGraw-Hill (Business Week, Green Markets, PlattsâŠ) avant dâapprendre le mĂ©tier de journaliste de radio Ă Radio France Internationale.â
So heâs been in France for over 40 years working in French media.
Are you disputing what the restaurateur and others said about rising costs and falling profit margins? The BBC had nothing to do with the responses given by people who were asked how things were and the trends.
Who doesnât? But read again - or perhaps for the first time - the comment by TFJMW below yours.
I agree with your comment except - to cheer everybody up - the greatest export of the USA has been musical. As John Lennon said âIf they had to rename Rock 'n Roll, theyâd have to call it Chuck Berryâ
The two music tracks sent out into space on that probe that was to exit the solar system and continue ad inf were Beethovenâs 9th and Chuck Berryâs âJohnny B Goodeâ. Iâd have included âSo What?â by Miles Davis.
The music was great, my comment what the usual tongue in cheek sarcasm.
I always worry that it will bash into one of the expensive alien ships and there will be a humongous galactic insurance claim against Beethoven and Chuck Berry.
Around us (Aveyron / Cantal / Lot) there are several types of âordinaryâ French restos:-
i) Lunchtime places providing very substantial trad food at low prices for workers - four courses and 25cl of wine for âŹ16 is a good value example.
ii) Similar good value at lunchtime in places like Rodez and Figeac, but with lighter, more sophisticated menus for office workers.
iii) Evening places, some of which are very good, without being eye-wateringly expensive.
iv) CrĂšperies.
Those that donât survive tend to be not very good and arenât missedâŠ