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An old-fashioned neighbourhood – Metro US

An old-fashioned neighbourhood

John Kilmartin is describing an ad he recently saw in the real estate section of his newspaper, for a brand new development in a far-off suburb where they were trying to sell the attractions of an old-fashioned neighbourhood by promising to flood a bit of parkland every winter for a skating rink.

“We actually live in an area that does that,” he tells me, describing an empty lot just a couple of streets over from his Bloor West Village home that’s transformed into a rink every winter for as long as he can remember.

When John and his wife Glynis moved to Canada from England 30 years ago they spent time briefly in Hamilton and Oakville before friends told them to look at Bloor West — at that point a sleepy but solid area full of solid homes north of a stretch of retail on Bloor Street that was notable for its absence of bars and its emptiness after business hours.

They’ve lived here ever since, renting a house on the northern edge, then buying a succession of homes on streets full of well-built craftsman-style homes, built between the wars on thin but remarkably deep lots. The homes haven’t changed much at all since the Kilmartins moved here, but Bloor Street has, starting over a decade ago when the “dry laws” were abolished, bars began replacing delis, restaurants got licenses, and bustling crowds became a daily reality.

There’s no shortage of good reasons to live here, the say — right on the subway line, a short stroll from High Park, and in an area where condo towers or big box shopping malls would have a hard time finding a spot to build. Even the Chapters is discrete, located as it is in the shell of the old Runnymede Theatre, though the Kilmartins prefer the Book City just down the street, which has ably survived competition with the bigger bookstore — a sign of local shopping preferences.

“Coming from England, it was nice to see that you could walk down to the high street to shop,” Glynis says, before they start listing favorite spots like Bloor Meat Market, in business since 1929 (“and with the same sawdust on the floor,” John says.) They joined everyone else in mourning the day the Cheese Boutique moved south to a Swansea sidestreet, but were pleased when Max’s, a competitor in the fine food business, expanded to fill the void, along with Queen’s Pasta, which sells its homemade noodles in both a restaurant and a shop at the bottom of their street.

There’s the Amber Restaurant, an old school eastern European eatery that’s been there for years, and Dr. Generosity, a newer restaurant that’s scored with locals with its family-friendly service and corkage fees if you bring your own wine. With the Cheese Boutique gone, the stunning local library, recently made over and expanded, became the new anchor of the strip, with its benches and nearby cafes.

With their children now away at university, the Kilmartins have been thinking of downsizing, but can’t imagine leaving. “We told our friends that when you buy a house you buy into a community,” John says. “They laughed, but later they told us ‘you were right.’”­