In Beirut, nightlife is back
After being put on hold during the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah, Beirut's nightlife is back in full swing. But the conflict has left its mark, says this report from "L'Orient-Le Jour," which toured the capital's bars and nightclubs. This article is the seventh and final installment in our series on Lebanon as told by the French-language daily.
[This article is taken from the special report produced with the editorial staff of the Lebanese daily L'Orient-Le Jour and published in our weekly dated May 28, 2025 (CI No. 1804).]
It's barely 10:30 p.m. in Beirut when the doors of the Grand Factory open. We gulp down the dregs of our beers, redefine our lips with three swipes of gloss, get our wrists dabbed by a closed-faced doorwoman... And here are the first partygoers flying to the top floor of this former abandoned factory where the sign [of the Lebanese bedding brand] Sleep Comfort ironically sits. The night promises to be long for these young visitors who have come to take advantage of free entry, valid for the first hour: the evening's guest star , DJ Jose M, isn't expected until 2 a.m.
The wind blows its first summer heat at the beginning of May, and the industrial district of Quarantaine [located at the northern entrance to the Lebanese capital] vibrates with techno sounds emanating from the trendy Beirut nightlife establishments that have taken refuge there. On the facade of the Grand Factory, inscriptions glitter: “Where it all began. Where it will remain.”
“It's back to the way it was before the war,” says Hady, one of the club's many security guards, returning the regulars' complacent smiles. The hangar remained closed during the Israeli [air] offensive launched in the capital at the end of September against Hezbollah. A brief interlude. The first Friday
Courrier International
