164-year-old circus goes into liquidation
Falling attendances blamed for decision to place Cirque Pinder into judicial liquidation
The celebrated Cirque Pinder has cancelled all its upcoming shows as it enters liquidation due to falling attendances.
The circus, which was founded in 1854, was placed in judicial liquidation last week by the tribunal de commerce de Créteil, Ouest-France reports.
Owner Gilbert Edelstein said that he had poured €2million of his own money into the business over the past five years, but was unable to afford the additional €500,000 it would need to continue operating.
"March and April were catastrophic. When you earn less, it's good management to say you can't do it anymore and you have to stop," Mr Edestein told franceinfo.
He said that turnover fell from €7.4million in 2014 to less than €6million in 2016, and blamed the switch in the school week from four days to four-and-a-half, with attendances among children falling by more than 350,000 over the period.
"It was I who asked for the cessation of payment, because we could no longer do it. We asked the [Ministry of] Culture for help, which did not happen, we asked President Macron to do something and nothing was done."
But he said that he hoped to resume shows in July and August, and said a planned amusement park in Perthe-en-Gâtinais, Seine-et-Marne, to "show that the circus world is alive and well" would still go ahead.
