Windsor, ON's beloved Phog Lounge is set to close its longtime location due to a forthcoming rent hike. Luckily, the venue has already found a new location in Windsor.
The operators of the bar wrote on social media that they would be moving to a new building on Eerie Street (which is roughly a 23-minute walk, according to Google Maps, from its existing location on University Avenue West).
There's no opening date for the new location, but Phog wrote that a rent hike was coming to its University location by the end of the year: "We have VERY good info that we'll be priced out of affordable rent (FYI, no one on Earth would kowtow to the rent that we think is coming) by December. We're being proactive." For the time being, there will be two Phog Lounges.
The new spot is apparently just 100 feet from WindsorEats (at 400 Erie Street East). Phog's current neighbours, Craft Heads Brewing Company, will also apparently be making the move, and it was through them that Phog found its new digs.
Phog Lounge opened in 2004, and in 2009 won CBC Radio 3's Searchlight competition to be named the Best Live Music Club in Canada. Both Phog and Craft Heads have the same out-of-town landlord, and the owners of Craft Heads confirmed to CBC that the landlord tried to triple their rent from $3,500 to $10,500, which forced them to move.
Read the full account from Phog Lounge below.
