Inside, it’s a bit like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. At the Amboise confectionery conservatory, visitors discover from A to Z the manufacture of sweets carried out with old machines from the last century. The 900 m² warehouse serves as both a museum and a creation site. A place “unique in Europe”, according to its boss, Nicolas Viollet. But for how much longer?

The 37-year-old young entrepreneur is only a tenant of the premises and is threatened with eviction, following a court decision handed down at the end of December. He owes 114,000 euros to his owner, an English land company. The amount corresponds to unpaid rent and penalties. His childhood dream is crumbling “because of Covid-19”, he says. A story of bad timing. “I signed the lease in November 2019 to start carrying out work in spring 2020,” explains Nicolas Viollet. “And in March, everything stopped because of the health crisis.”