Raising a pint to Steinbach’s new institution

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This article was published 31/03/2012 (5131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STEINBACH — There haven’t been stampedes by thirsty customers.

There haven’t been lineups or scuffles over whose soccer team is superior. There haven’t been police called to attend to late-night rowdiness.

But the first pub has opened in Steinbach. On Valentine’s Day, Sawney Beans, a British-style restaurant and pub owned by Scotland native Jackie Bakx, quietly became the asterisk in this city’s history books: What was the first pub to open in Steinbach in its post-prohibition era?

Trust the Brits.

The pub, short for “public house,” is like a mini community centre in Britain, even if the only physical activities are buying rounds and tossing darts. Just the term “corner pub” underscores how prevalent ale houses are in the British Isles.

“The pub is just a social institution. It’s a great social leveller. You can talk to all comers and nobody cares about your background,” said Steinbach resident, Tony Trimble, who is originally from Wales.

So pubs were missed when a wave of British truck drivers that included Trimble first began to arrive in Steinbach in 2006, lured by jobs like at the company Big Freight.

Sally Battisson and her trucker husband had visited Steinbach before moving from central England, near Birmingham, and loved it, but didn’t notice on their visit a certain part of their social fabric from back home was missing.

“I don’t think we realized it was a dry town until we moved here and then we went, ‘Ohhhhh!’ ” said Battisson. She and her husband were pub regulars on weekends back in England.

The name Sawney Beans stems from when Bakx, née Anderson, first arrived in 1997 with her family. Her accent was so thick that when she introduced herself as Jackie Anderson, people in Steinbach thought she said, ‘Sawney Beans.’

OK, that’s not entirely true. Sawney Beans is really named after a Scottish legend. (Pubs in Scotland tend to be named after legends or historic figures.) Legend has it there was a man named Alexander Bain who lived in a cave near Stranraer in southwest Scotland, where Bakx (she has married since arriving) is from. His Scottish brogue was so dense his English captors thought he said his name was ‘Sawney Beans.’ He is reputed to have led a gang of 16th-century robbers and cannibals but Scots say the English made up the story to turn public opinion against Scottish people.

Bakx’s parents moved to Steinbach in 1997 and ran a Pizza Place. She took over in 2007 and opened Sawney Beans as a restaurant. She was just 22 at the time. She always intended Sawney Beans to include a pub but she had to wait for liquor laws to change.

Residents of Steinbach have been able to purchase alcohol with a meal since a referendum in 2003 but no one could open a lounge or pub. Bakx prompted a referendum in 2007 when she petitioned city council for a lounge licence. The restaurant she owns with husband, David, served as headquarters for the “wet” side. Other business people in Steinbach supported her but “nobody really wanted to be the face of it” for fear of a public backlash, she said.

The referendum to legalize lounge licences lost by nine votes. The irony is the newcomer Brits weren’t allowed to vote because they didn’t have their Canadian citizenship yet.

Between 200 and 250 Brits have arrived in this part of eastern Manitoba since the first wave began in 2006. It’s slowed a bit but 11 family units still arrived last year, about half of which were single men taking trucking jobs.

Another referendum was held in late 2011 with little fanfare or campaigning this time. Steinbach voted by more than two to one in favour of allowing lounge licences. Sawney Beans applied immediately.

The British newcomers are part of a transformation that is making Steinbach more cosmopolitan. By far the largest population influx has been from Germany and the Philippines. About 425 family units from Germany have arrived since 2006, and 212 family units from the Philippines.

Nearly half a dozen establishments in Steinbach have taken out lounge licences so far.

“Some people are enamoured that we’re serving liquor, but most people are just happy to have something culturally different,” said Bakx, who has various symbols of Britain in Sawney Beans, from flags to shields to photos of crumbling castles. The pub has various beer on tap including Guinness and Smithwick’s, and bottled beer like Newcastle Brown Ale.

“We’ve done really well. Our customers love it and not just the Brits.”

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca