There was a time when established businesses would incorporate their date of origin into their logo. Frank’s Plumbing – since 1962. Or Manolo the Tailor, in business since 1957. Sometimes it was just a bit over the top perhaps. I think a quarter century would be a fair achievement to display.
I imagine you had to wait for a significant period of time before posting the boast; if you saw Frank’s truck in 1965 with that slogan, well, that was only two years of operation
But the days of one-off businesses passing the test of time now seem long gone. Today such endeavours would either go tits up, or be bought out by a bigger company. Now a business marking ten years of existence, particularly if you throw in a pandemic along the way, is a success story.
Imagine sixteen years?
Well, that’s exactly what the good folks at Next Door Bar and Grill on Sherbrooke Street in NDG are celebrating this week. Sixteen years as a much loved local pub. Even the name implies a homey kind of place; although it has led to the occasional mix up when someone in a downtown bar calls to ask where you are. When you tell them and they go to look for you in the bar next door to the one they called from but don’t find you. In an era when bars and restaurants come and go on what sometimes seems to be a daily basis, Next Door has toughed it out.
If you read this blog with any regularity, you’ll no doubt know that I have a great affinity for downtown Montreal and many of its establishments – even with the current mayor doing her best to kill it. But for me to get to Next Door I have to go in the exact opposite direction, away from downtown, westward not eastward, yet never have I regretted doing so.
But for me to get to Next Door I have to go in the exact opposite direction, away from downtown, westward not eastward, yet never have I regretted doing so.
It was probably a dozen or so years ago that my wife and I first dropped in. It was Halloween and, after dinner, we went out for a stroll in the neighborhood to see the various costumes being worn by kids and adults alike. We found ourselves on Sherbrooke Street and popped in to Next Door, and have been doing so on and off ever since.
Let me congratulate Rick and Jay and all the current staff as well as those who have worked at Next Door over the years on this great achievement. The ability to hire and keep good people no doubt goes a long way to explaining Next Door’s success.
Here’s to many more years at Next Door. Now, I wonder what ever happened to Manolo??
DCMontreal 