BRITISH holidaymakers going to France may be forced to cover their bare chests or risk being slapped with a £130 (€150) fine.
Men have been banned from walking around shirtless in several seaside resort towns – with one mayor citing concerns over hygiene and decency.
Topless sunbathing is still legal in France – but around 20 towns are clamping down on locals and tourists from baring their chests in city centres.
The glamorous resort of Deauville has hiked up its token fine of £15 (€17) to a heftier £130 (€150).
And in the southern French city of Narbonne – which last year saw blistering highs of 43 degrees – men are barred from going shirtless all summer.
The ban came into force on Monday and will end only at the end of September.
The mayor of the resort town claimed it was common sense for a tourist hotspot to crack down on bare-chests.
“It’s about hygiene and avoiding exhibitionism,” he said.
One Narbonne restaurant owner hailed the crackdown as “a very good thing”, saying that “this isn’t something the staff of our café can easily police on their own without getting into arguments with customers”.
“Having bare-chested guys on the terrace can put off other customers”, added Anthony Hill, 53, who runs Le 89 cafe in the city centre.
But as a heatwave swept across the holiday hotspot – hitting highs of 34 degrees – not everyone welcomed the ban.
“This excessive puritanism is disturbing. Let people live a little. A bare chest never killed anyone”, complained one user named Gabriel on X.
Another seaside port – La Grande‑Motte – has imposed the same restriction and local resident Marie welcomed the change with open arms.
“If I’m out with my kids in the town centre I really don’t want to see guys without shirts. It’s a matter of decency — and there’s also the smell when they walk past you”, the 37-year-old told French TV.
But one holidaymaker, 55, questioned whether the £130 (€150) was “a bit steep” – though he added that he found rule logical.
French law forbids women from going topless – but there is no nationwide ban on men’s shirtlessness.
If a woman walks around bare-chested anywhere other than on a beach she risks being arrested for “sexual exhibitionism” and thrown in jail.
She may also be charged a fine of around £13,000 (€15,000).
In 2020 a row erupted across the nation after cops asked three topless women sunbathing on a southern French beach to cover up.
A family had complained that the women’s bare breasts had upset their children – but when police took action they were blasted for betraying the “French way of life”.