The Palomino set to close

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This article was published 13/10/2015 (3827 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the oldest and best-known nightclubs in Winnipeg — The Palomino Club — has announced that it will be closing down its location at 1133 Portage Ave. after 27 years.

Owner Cary Paul said that the decision to close down the West End location doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the Pal. It will reopen at some point but he’s not sure where or when.

“I have to decide if I want to spend time after all these years getting it going,” Paul said.
Paul’s decision to close the nightclub is, according to him, a long time coming.

“At one time it was strictly nightclubs, and there was no such thing as the Earls, the Joeys, the Boston Pizzas of the world,” Paul said. “The nightclub business today is mostly two nights a week which is eight to nine hours of business… clubs in most big cities don’t even open until 11 p.m. and run until 5 a.m., well we don’t have that ability here in Winnipeg.”

Paul is in the midst of deciding to whom he will sell the property. At the moment, a 54-condo facility is the top contender.

“I think it will be a great rejuvenation for the north side of Portage,” Paul said. “I think not too many of my neighbours will be disappointed that I’m leaving, with all the noise over the years.”
“They’ve had a great run,” said Peter Squire, public affairs manager at WinnipegREALTORS, just down the street from the Pal.

“We’ve been here since 1975 and we really covet our location, and if we get a new neighbour close by they’ll be in an outstanding location — right on the edge of the downtown, near a shopping area and not far from the airport.”

Squire added that with the size of the property, developers shouldn’t have many issues rezoning it.

“We always got along, we would go there from time to time,” said Dave Richards, Flea Whiskey’s owner. “Sometimes our staff would go there and they always treated us well, and vice versa.”

Richards agreed that seeing condos in that location might be a good change for Flea Whiskey’s and neighbouring businesses, who would have a new influx of local customers.