Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, commonly referred to as Le Touquet, is a commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calaisdepartment in northern France. It has a population of 4,244 but welcomes up to 250,000 people during the summer. The resort is dominated by buildings from the 1950s to 1980s, but there are still a number of unique villas preserved that evoque the seaside architecture of both the Roaring Twenties and the 1930s. The most famous local architect is Louis Quételart.
History
The town of Le Touquet was given its full name by Hippolyte de Villemessant, founder and owner of the Paris newspaper Le Figaro. At the time it was an area of wild sand dunes and forest – part of a hunting estate. Its name came from a Picard word meaning "corner", and was originally applied to the area of coast nearby. It became known as "Paris by the sea", and strict building regulations encouraged the most talented architects to create imaginative and innovative developments.
Resort and the wealthy British
In 1894 John Robinson Whitley and Allen Stoneham bought a stretch of coastal land, through their company Le Touquet Syndicate Ltd, and developed the town into a golf and gambling resort. In 1909, H. G. Wells and Amber Reeves fled to Le Touquet in an abortive elopement. The two returned to Britain after a number of weeks, though Amber later gave birth to Wells's daughter, Anna-Jane Blanco White, after the relationship ended. During most of World War I Le Touquet was home of the Duchess of Westminster's Hospital for wounded British troops. The #2 Canadian Stationary Hospital had the distinction of being the first Canadian Unit to land on French soil. No. 2 Stationary opened at the Hotel du Golf at Le Touquet on November 27, 1914. All the 142 British Commonwealth war graves in Le Touquet's Communal Cemetery in Avenue de 18 Jun are from the hospitals. The graves occupy a plot by the cemetery entrance. In the same cemetery a wooden obelisk was erected by the commune's lifeboatmen in honour of the British. In the 1920s, Noël Coward and the "smart set" from England spent weekends here, and commissioned more outstanding villa designs echoing traditional and ultra-modern domestic styles. Today the town tourist office offers organised trails to see outstanding examples of 19th- and 20th-century domestic architecture, which are now preserved and protected. Sayaji Rao III Gaekwar of Baroda also owned a house here. P. G. Wodehouse lived in Le Touquet from 1934 to 1940 until he was interned by the German army.
Sport
Motorsport
Every year in February, an off-road motorcycle and quad beach race called Enduropale is held along the beach and through the dunes, with some 1,000 motorbikes, Quad bikes and 250,000 spectators.
Cycling
Le Touquet has been host to four stages of the Tour de France. The resort first hosted a stage during the 1971 Tour de France, as the finish for Stage 6b, from Amiens, on 2 July. Following this, the resort hosted Stage 3 of the 1976 Tour de France, on 27 June. This was a individual time trial which both started and finished at the resort. The following day, Le Touquet was the departure point for the fourth stage, to Bornem in Belgium. The 2014 Tour de France began Stage 4 at Le Touquet on 8 July, with the stage taking a route to Lille Métropole.
Tennis
The Le Touquet Tennis Club is the home of international tournaments. It has 33 courts, 2 club-houses, 1 central court with 900 places, 2 paddle-tennis courts and 4 mini tennis courts.
Miscellaneous
Inland from the beach, hotels, a casino and a horse racing course, a wide range of sports, particularly golf are offered. The Casino de la forêt provided the inspiration of the casino of Royale-les-Eaux in Casino Royale.
