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Congrier, France: When Thomas Sureau and Lisa Buisine took possession of the keys to an abandoned cafe in the village of Congrier, they faced the task of breathing life back into a small corner of "La France Oubliée", or "Forgotten France".
Rural France doesn't have the population to sustain the cafe culture so synonymous with cities like Paris.Credit:iStock
The former owners of the Chene Vert, who also sold newspapers and cigarettes, rolled down the shutters for the last time in December 2018, leaving the village of 900 people without a central meeting point.
The decline in Congrier's fortunes is mirrored in small towns and villages across rural France where empty properties and vacant shopfronts tell of the slow decay of local businesses.
Sureau and Buisine were handpicked by the company SOS, which specialises in social projects and targets re-opening 100 cafes this year in struggling villages.