France’s 1970s roller disco craze is back – and we tried it

Much is written about America’s waning cultural influence, but one hangover of US hegemony is very much alive and kicking in France in 2026: the roller disco. 

Its birthplace may have been Brooklyn’s Empire Rollerdrome, but Paris caught up quickly; the city’s first roller disco, La Main Jaune, opened in 1979 and reached legendary status. 

A slide delivered skaters straight onto the rink and it even featured in cult film La Boum, starring a teenage Sophie Marceau.

The party eventually ended for both venues: La Main Jaune closed in 2003, Empire four years later. 

By the time I went to my first roller disco, in 2006 in London, it felt pastiche – the pulsing energy and underground soundsystem culture had been replaced by slick venues, overpriced bar snacks, and at least half a dozen hen dos. 

Empire had prided itself on being a recreational centre for the whole Brooklyn community; my London night felt like it catered solely for city tosspots like me in their 20s, in hot pants and in various stages of inebriation.

The decline in the US has been just as stark. At the height of the disco craze in 1979, the country boasted 5,000 roller rinks. As of December 2025, only 900-odd remained.

But France, it seems, is not ready to throw off its leg-warmers just yet. Whispers of a roller renaissance have been getting louder for years, culminating in the announcement that La Main Jaune is to reopen this spring. 

If the teaser of a “vibrant creative hub” also hosting concerts, recording studios, bars, and a restaurant leaves you cold, rest assured there are plenty of less pretentious roller offerings. 

Here in Nièvre, a brilliant association called Roule Ma Poule has been organising fortnightly discos in a dilapidated school gymnasium since October. 

It is not without jeopardy: when I went in January the heating was off, and a lone smoke machine, strobe lights and speaker combined to create a thrumming, fluorescent fog in one corner, through which you navigated completely blind. 

Then there was the loose toddler who periodically padded across our path in socks and with complete insouciance. Echoes of the Suffragette Derby of 1913, but with Sister Sledge muffling our screams.

Fancy dance moves were limited: we largely skated in a uniformly circular fashion until someone decided it was time to change direction. 

Cue much quacking of autre sens over Donna Summer, before we all attempted similar about-turns with varying degrees of grace and/or domino tumbling.

Regardless, it was the most fun I’ve had in forever. For refreshments, the onus is on members to bring and share disco victuals. 

A handful of spare skates are also available to borrow if you don’t have your own, but the sizing is a lottery. 

The music spans 70s and 80s dance classics to Gen A pop anthems. The membership fee is similarly crowd-pleasing: €45 covered my family of three for the year. 

It all ended just before 23:00 with a cursory tidy-up. Plastic chairs were stacked against the walls; the lacquered ‘rink’ was swept of popcorn detritus and a conga line of children to reveal the uncompromising outlines of badminton/basketball courts once more. 

This is roller disco in la France profonde, and it’s pure joy.