Gymnase Monconseil

The hall sits on Rue de la Chapelle. It opened in May 2011. The building belongs to the city, though the tour operators book the space.

There is a wooden floor here, laid specifically for the game. It is not a football pitch, and it does not pretend to be one. The capacity is 1200 seats. It is a tight squeeze in the middle of winter, but the heat stays inside. Tours Métropole Basket play their home fixtures here, having moved into the building a year after it opened. The club has kept its name, and the hall has kept its own, though locals sometimes refer to it as the Eco-Quartier venue simply because it sits in the new quarter.

The structure is functional. There are no grand arches or ornamental facades. The architects from Explorations Architecture designed it to hold the sport, not to win prizes for aesthetics. The cost was six million euros, a figure that has since been forgotten by the taxpayers but remains in the municipal accounts.

In the summer of 2024, the roof leaked. Water found its way in, soaking the wooden boards and ruining the playing surface. The club had to pause operations while the floor was assessed. Repairs are scheduled for the following summer, leaving a gap in the calendar that the team will have to fill elsewhere. It is a minor nuisance for the players, who must train on borrowed courts, and a logistical headache for the managers.

The building does not host concerts or large exhibitions. Its purpose is singular. When the lights come on in the evening, the room fills with the sound of sneakers squeaking and the ball hitting the floor. It is a quiet place compared to the football stadiums down the road, but it holds the local interest just as tightly.