About 38 years on and Paul Nauss still can’t quite describe what he loves about the Midtown Tavern.
“It hasn’t got any special ambience, and yet it has. It has a special ambience that no other place has. You can’t explain it. You can’t put it into words,” he said Thursday.
Nauss drove about an hour in to Halifax from Bridgewater specifically to drop by the Midtown with his daughter, Jennifer. He plans to keep going to the new Midtown once it moves into the nearby Boomers Lounge location, but it doesn’t diminish his sadness.
“You don’t see places like this anymore. And you won’t again. And that’s the sad part. When this is gone it won’t be back again,” he said.
Nauss is one of countless Midtown fans who have been rushing to get a few last memories with the bar. The tavern has received letters and postcards from as far away as China, and it’s been packed the last two months. So much so that co-owner Eric Grant barely had time to stop and say a few words yesterday.
“It is sad, but the customers are so warm and genuine about their feelings for the place it sort of makes you not be sad,” he said in between serving customers.
“We’re really glad that we’re going down the road. We’re not going to disappear. And as I say it’s been so busy – Okay, see you guys! – that we don’t really have time to be sad.”
The Midtown officially closes Saturday and is set to re-open in its new location in a week or two. All the staff are moving over and Eric’s son, Colin, said that’s really what’s been at the core of the Midtown’s enormous popularity.
“The same guys that were serving in 1980 are still serving now,” he said. “We have so many good relationships with customers that we consider friends.”