Bye-bye Tubby’s, hello The Grove

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/04/2012 (5174 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tubby’s and the adjacent Charlie O’s and Friends lounge was a River Heights landmark at the corner of Stafford Street and Grosvenor Avenue for more than 40 years until its closure just over a year ago.

Despite the fact that it hadn’t been re-decorated for most of those forty years it was still a local institution that my wife and I would walk to on many a Friday evening for a pizza and glass of wine, served by a waitress who looked as though she could possibly have been one of the original employees.

One of the joys of Tubby’s was gazing at the wall of celebrity diners who had eaten there over the years, that and gentle ribbing of the proprietor who would tease the older women about how he remembered serving them when they were students at Kelvin High, even if they never went to school there.

Now Tubby’s has gone and in its place is The Grove.

The Grove is a light and airy place run by local proprietor Miles Gould. Miles cut his teeth in the local restaurant industry before moving to England and buying the Milestone pub in Sheffield.

No, it wasn’t named after him, but he did tell me that the building was older than Canada.

A keen soccer player, Miles opens early for breakfast on weekends when an enthusiastic crowd usually gathers to watch English Premier League games live on the multiple large screen TVs.

The establishment is one of the few places in Winnipeg that has a commercial Setanta license for the premium soccer TV channel.

Another event hosted there recently was a Neil Young appreciation night, which was quite appropriate as Neil Young used to live only a quarter of a mile away on Grosvenor and I’m sure he would have walked to the place on many a night in years gone by.

So if you’re in the neighbourhood, pop in and say hello to Miles, sample the Stafford Street Lager, check out some English soccer and see what happens when Manchester United play Queens Park Rangers.

Trevor Smith is a community correspondent for River Heights. You can contact him via email at smitht@mymts.net.