Aux Folies

The beacon of Belleville.

Aux Folies is a bar in Belleville, on a street lined with Chinese restaurants, betting shops and graffiti-covered walls. It might seem to the passerby like an average roadside dive bar. The drinks are cheap, the floor is dirty and the sticky tables wobble. Though there is a reason that I always find time to come back to this place. For me, Aux Folies is the best people-watching spot in Paris. 

Of course, what defines good people-watching is entirely subjective. For Tiktok posers who have travelled from America to have their boyfriend film them nonchalantly crossing the street in a carefully selected outfit, you are probably better off in Saint Germain. If you prefer the gaunt fashion crowd trying to look attractively bored while dressed like the mentally ill, then head to the Marais. But for a real slice of Parisian life, or at least one side of it, you can’t do better than Rue de Belleville. 

In the half hour since I sat down tonight, I’ve seen punks, pimps, prostitutes and someone who I think was a priest. A girl wearing what looked like hooded pyjamas complete with cat ears came over to the table to ask for a light. Three sharply dressed Asian men, each carrying expensive looking bottles of wine, have been rushing up and down the street looking for an address like they are in a Benny Hill sketch. I can’t get enough of it. It’s like being in ‘Where’s Wally’ if it had been written by Irvine Welsh. 

One particularly memorable Follies episode dates back 12 or so years ago, when I was new in town and living off scraps of freelance work while burning through the last of my savings. I’d heard that there was this cheap bar in Belleville and decided to pitch up there and try to drink slowly. Even on that grey weekday afternoon the terrace was packed, and I knew that to be a good sign. 

At some point, a drugged-out looking guy from the street, who had been hassling people at the tables for money, decided he’d had enough and tried to take off with a woman’s bag. She let out a scream and the entire terrace turned to see her desperately holding onto the handle while the junkie attempted to wrestle it away.

Before I had the chance to even consider helping out, some guy who looked like a buff Albert Camus jumped up and came to the rescue. Rather than simply calling it quits and running off, the thief decided to challenge the muscular existentialist. This was a mistake.

From where I was sitting, a little bit tipsy from the unbranded beer, what followed was a rare treat of street theatre. The hero, who was already standing in a southpaw fighting stance, started to roll on the ball of his front foot. Anyone who has been to Thai boxing or Savate will know this is precisely the way someone moves when they are about to kick you in the head. And kick the guy's head he did, but not just once. Bam! Bam! Bam! His leg was going up and down like a can-can. The thief was getting Moulin-Rouged right in front of everyone. 

To give credit to the junkie, he didn’t go down, but you could pretty much see the three functioning brain cells he had left all telling him to get out of there. He dropped the bag and stumbled away up the street. The purse was reunited with its owner and people from across the terrace came over to congratulate Karate Camus. 

For the rest of the afternoon people bought the hero drinks, offered to light his cigarettes, and complimented him on his roundhouse kick technique. The grey sky eventually broke into a shower and the awning came down, closing us off from the world in our smoky, boozy bubble. 

The street show was over now, but from nowhere someone produced an accordion and proceeded to play for everyone on the terrace. The muggy afternoon had turned into a rainy night, and the red light of Aux Folies shined out on Rue de Belleville, like a lighthouse in the storm.                     

Aux Folies - 8 Rue de Belleville, 75020 Paris