Paris gets Johnny Hallyday square

It looks like Paris will soon have an Esplanade Johnny Hallyday, with an area outside the AccorHotels arena reportedly earmarked for renaming after the star.

According to Le Parisien, the open space in the 12th arrondisement will be named after France's music legend, two years after he died from lung cancer.

Over his decades-long career, Hallyday played the arena 101 time, with a total of over 1 million people seeing him there. Several of his live albums were recorded at the venue including the Les Vieilles Canailles Le Live album documenting his tour with Jacques Dutronc and Eddy Mitchell, released in November 2019

It's one of the busiest arenas in the world, while predominately hosting sporting events - especially tennis - some of the biggest musical acts have played there including Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue and U2.

The decision to honour Hallyday by naming part of the French capital after him has been discussed widely since his death. There were a number of possible locations in the city mentioned, but it seems that the Bercy location has been deemed the most appropriate. A statue of Hallyday may be added to the square later.

A Paris street was named after David Bowie last month, and there's already an Esplanade Johnny Hallyday in Toulouse, located outside the city's Zenith arena, which was unveiled last year by the mayor in the presence of Hallyday's widow Laeticia.

The decision to rename the square in Paris will be retified by the next Paris council meeting, to be held on February 3.