It now appears likely that 15th Ave E’s much loved dive The Canterbury will live on — in name and spirit if not in its olde tyme entirety.
CHS has reported on the planned changes for the 15th and Mercer venue as Capitol Hill Housing sought out new tenants to take over the space in the Fredonia building Canterbury Ale and Eats has called home since 1976.
Enter Dave Meinert and Jason Lajeunesse — two princes of Pike/Pine, as we called them, with plans to add the location to their empire of food and drink including CHS advertiser Lost Lake and The 5-Point. The partners say they are still working out the long-term lease with Capitol Hill Housing but have made progress on striking a deal with outgoing owners Stefanie and David Roberge to keep the Canterbury name for the business.
In the meantime, CHS gets asked from time to time if the Canterbury is closed. It is not. You should stop by and spend a few special hours or two with her before the changes. The plan, last we heard, was to remain open for business through December and close the current chapter with a New Year’s bash.
That’s great news!
Is it actually real this time? This is the third time they’ve announced they’re closing in the past 5 years.
Really? Can they just close already? Their food is crappy, and their clients are rowdy. Can they at least become 1 iota classier if they come under new management? Or turn into an Indian restaurant?
Ha! I love your comment, very spot on. We can only hope.
I agree. An Indian restaurant there would be great, now that Chutney’s is closed.
Yeah right, we need more “classy” places on the hill. Lets just make everyplace to hang out uptight, expensive with only gourmet food, and craft cocktails for $12 a piece. For those of us that enjoy the Burys as it is, we should enjoy it while we can. Sounds like there will be a lot of change, including staff and ambiance. The name and location may stay the same, but sadly that’s about it.
My point is that the northern part of 15th shouldn’t have anything close to resembling a dive bar. I understand that they have their place, however that place shouldn’t be close to the more family/residential part of the Hill. The people that the Canterbury attracts are not the same kind of people I wan’t in my neighborhood after 11pm. Keep that shit on Pike and Pine, with your ChaChas and such.
I live 2 blocks from The Canterbury and welcome the diversity it brings to the Northern end of 15th.
If you don’t like the people The Canterbury attracts, then perhaps this isn’t the neighborhood for you, Dominic.
I live on the same block as the Canterbury, and there’s a few things that happen on a weekly basis, some things daily. It’s been a hot summer, so we keep our windows open a crack. Well, the people who patronize the bar who need to smoke, do so on the northern side of the bar in the designated zone. Or, they’re supposed to. Plenty of smoke rises up into our apartment, which really shouldn’t happen unless the smokers are right underneath our window, but lo and behold, that’s where they end up.
As well, with keeping the window open, we hear every word yelled back and forth between the smokers. Not only that, but the type of people who stand out and smoke are the type who don’t notice when you say “Excuse me” because you’re holding 20lbs of groceries and you’re just trying to go home. No, these are the type of people who are so drunk or unaware of their surroundings that, in not moving, force me and my family to have to walk into the street to get around them. Entitled assholes? Drunkards?
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate diversity. But crappy bars like this are only around for so long because people keep patronizing them out of nostalgia and misguided loyalty. It’s not your mother, it’s your wet nurse.
I couldn’t have said it better that you did, we keep patronizing the Burys, because of nostalgia, and loyalty, both good and valuable things for most people, and likely the reason its made it this long. Hang in there, you’ll have another Lego land condo building across the street and a “family friendly” Canterburys in less than a year.
If someone has a difficult time with noise, the smell of smoke or “drunkards” why would they move to the same block as a bar?
That’s like moving into a place next to I-5 then complaining about sound of traffic.
Sorry we’re gonna have to agree to disagree. I live four blocks from Canterburys, with my family. I cant stand whats going on in the Pike/Pine area, and dont want anything to do with it. Its basically Belltown now. Sure there may be rowdy people that may patronize the Burys, the same as any bar, but passing judgement on all people that may want to spend their time and money there, doesn’t make sense to me. Maybe you’ve had a bad experience related to the place, and Im sorry if so, but its always been a mellow reasonably priced place to meet friends for me.
no kidding – I live right by Pike/Pine and I would gladly have more Canterburys by me and fewer Quinn’s, Barrios, Von Trapps, endless frat dudes and woo girls. The Canterbury has existed right next to the highly residential and family oriented 15th Ave area for decades – it’s kind of laughable that someone would throw a strop about that “type of dive bar” not belonging there.
Anyway, the name may stay on but it won’t be the Canterbury anymore.
Perhaps if you have issue with the neighborhood’s vibrancy maybe you should move to Montlake Terrace or some other such family friendly environment. Or is there not enough subsidized housing for you to leech off of?
“Neighborhood vibrancy”? (snort) That is what a small group of people were saying about keeping the U District as crappy as possible around ten years ago. They needed to move to Skid Row in LA if they pined for all that but I think they eventually grew up and got jobs and moved on. “Neighborhood vibrancy” means a bit more than how the world looks through the bottom of a glass.
The quality of life challenges on Capitol Hill are as follows:
*The over saturation of bars
*The lack of business diversity other than bars and expensive restaurants
*The creep of developer’s gentrification pricing out real people while adding nothing to housing other than places for tech executives
*The amount of drug consumption that draws in the thugs to the area
*An over acceptance of shady drifters
*Residents who want to complain about crime but take no involvement in their community or who wouldn’t call 911 if they saw someone being robbed
Bars are notorious for not giving a crap about how they impact neighborhoods. It has NOTHING to do with neighbors being too uptight or “squares.” People who live on Capitol Hill know very well they are on Capitol Hill and not Clyde Hill.
Capitol Hill is not a suburb.
Accept that or move.
Wow!….what a mean comment. Families are an important part of the diversity of Capitol Hill, and it’s good they are increasing in number. And someone who lives in Capitol Hill Housing is not “leeching”…those buildings are subsidized, yes, but not in a major way….the residents still pay significant rent.
This is an interesting debate. I live across the street from the Canterbury and for the most part, don’t even notice it’s there. Once in awhile, especially on Fri or Sat night, I’ll hear a bit of yelling but it’s nothing out of place for the area. So from that standpoint, I have no problem with the current iteration.
At the same time, I’ve never set foot in the place, despite living right across the street. I don’t know if it’s the crowd it attracts, the decor, or the reputation, but it’s never seemed very inviting to me. I’d much rather head over to Liberty or Hop Vine instead. I’ll be curious to see if the changes also change my opinion.
[…] partnering with frequent collaborator Lajeunesse on the Capitol Hill version. The duo are also partnering on a project to transform 15th Ave E’s The […]
[…] on December 15th. Roberge said the transition of the business to the new owners including the transfer of the Canterbury name has set the couple up for retirement. They’ll continue to live nearby. Roberge said […]