Last call for Martini's Bar

Friday afternoon wanes and thoughts turn to quaffing a pint of beer at the local, Martini's Bar & Grill in Edmonton. But as the raven would croak, that will happen "Nevermore." On May 30, the staff were laid off and Martini's closed its doors for good.
The closing of a bar is perhaps not all that important in the grand scheme of things. Certainly Martini's end has produced hardly a ripple in the city's consciousness. Unlike that of El Nivel Cantina in Mexico City, forced to shut down in 2008, which prompted a large demonstration and received international news coverage.
Well, also unlike El Nivel, opened in 1855, Martini's isn't the oldest bar in the city, nor has it been the haunt of world-historical figures such as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.
As drinking establishments go, Martini’s is neither old nor historic, having opened in the 1990s, but for those of us who were regular patrons-- and those who enjoyed working there -- its loss is a wrench.
Done up in a style somewhere between a New York bar and a London pub, with brass-railed mahogany-finish bar and elaborate mirrored back-bar displaying the bottles in their glittering array, it was a place with engaging staff and an assortment of regulars who were generally friendly and interesting, and where you could generally get into a good conversation over a drink. Lively without being overbearingly noisy, it was also a true local whose patrons attended the funerals of other regulars, took part in sports pools, regular crib tournaments and a lottery syndicate. The Big Rock Traditional Ale on draft was usually very good.
That Martini's was on the ropes had long been rumoured. But it took some time for the predictions of the local Cassandra to come to pass. "At one point there were dire predictions that the days were numbered for my current local, Martini's, but a shift in ownership seems to have warded off that danger -- and the charming and accomplished staff, including Mary, Nancy, Barb, Deb, Shyla and Heather will be keeping the customers happy there for a while yet," I wrote in a May 6, 2008 blog about the closing of some San Francisco bars. And so it was, although by that time longtime châtelaine Kara had already gone and Martini's had already seen its best days.
In recent times Martini's had been plagued with declining staffing difficulties -- which at one point resulted in an Industrial Workers of the World picket line -- and maintenance problems. The final straw is said to have been the landlord's raising the rent when the lease came up at the end of May, although that might not have been fatal if there hadn't been other ongoing issues.
Rumours are now going around among former Martini's habitués that its is now being looked over by potential saviours who may be interested in reopening the bar.
That may be so. Meanwhile the refugees from the wreck of Martini's are seeking another congenial drinking spot to take its place. As one commented plaintively on his Facebook page, "Men without locals. we wander the streets in search of inviting venues. In short, we are lost."