I first went to the Duke of Perth in June 1993, about four years after it opened.
Today will be the pub's last day at their 35-year-old location on Clark St., after the property owner* doubled the rent. A bunch of us regulars and bartenders from the old days got together yesterday for one last whisky:
The place really hasn't changed much since 1989, which is how it maintained its charm. That, and the patio, where I had more than a few first dates:
When I lived in the neighborhood, I did so much freelance work at Table 5 that I referred to it as my remote office:
Sadly, I never ponied up to have any of these three whiskies before they were gone:
Three of us popped over to the new location, still under construction at 2834 N. Broadway, about two blocks away. Broadway has a lot more foot traffic than Clark, so the Duke's owners expect more people will walk in out of the cold. That said, after seeing the new space, I have no idea where they'd put the fireplace. And the new space will never get direct sunlight because the building across the street shades its only window. They can have five or six tables on the sidewalk, but that's not a beautiful, shaded walled garden.
Still, Colin has pulled off miracles before, saving neighborhood gem La Crèperie from closing in 2013. He doesn't do anything rash, so I have to guess he's had his eye on the new space since the previous restaurant closed in October. But it's still a sad day, losing one of my favorite pubs in the world.
*This landlord has kept storefronts vacant on Clark for so long that he inspired new legislation a couple of years back.