The Montague

This is a post that got lost in publishing. It was supposed to have gone up on September 25, 2010. Well, here it goes now!

On Thursday night, after two and a half hours of Scottish dancing, two friends of mine from Butler and I went out for a drink and to find food. Our original plan was to go to McEwan's Pub to meet up with the rest of the Scottish dance club and meet them a little bit, since at least one of my friends is joining the club, and I might join, too. However, I didn't have I.D. with me, and I am under the impression that I need to prove that I am over 18 to order something from the counter, even if it is non-alcoholic. Anyway, I'd rather not get into any kind of trouble or mess, so I asked my two buddies if they would mind popping over to my flat - only two blocks from the dance hall - so that I could grab some I.D., and then we'd be on our merry way to McEwan's.

They were very obliging, and we were on our way, I got my stuff, and then we were back on the street, looking for the pub. I thought I knew the way, but we ended up at McEwan's Brewery, not "McEwan's Pub." My flat wasn't too far away, so we went back, double-checked the name and the location (it was literally just a block away), and then we were off again, this time into the darkening night and soft rain.

We walked up and down the street, passed several pubs, and couldn't find it, little knowing that the full name of the Ale House on South Clerk Street is "McEwan's Ale House." In the end, we went to the pub on the corner called The Montague. I'd been there once before on my building's pub crawl, but it was crowded, and I couldn't absorb the atmosphere of the place. However, the three of us sat at a little table, complete with a candle, under the gaze of Sean-Connery-as-James-Bond on a movie poster. There were other vintage movie posters, bookshelves, high ceilings with molded pieces where the wall met the ceiling, even wainscoting and a few boardgames scattered across the bookshelves. Contemporary design adequately re-imagined the Victorian era architecture and style to make The Montague: every little boy's and girl's Victorian dream without actually having to live in Victorian times (with what passed for indoor plumbing, no temperature control, cholera, typhoid, corsets that made the wearers faint, refrigeration?, etc).

Not only was it a place for gatherings and a refuge for students, it felt like a place for students - and anyone else who wanted to pass an hour or two there. The Montague has couches and tables, friendly staff, really good music - nothing can beat New Order for aptly fitting the atmosphere. It was youthful, mature without being overbearing, and trendy without the shallow vicissitudes of trendiness, like it had caught and preserved a millennial feel.

I had my carrot cake and my Appletiser, good friends, and contentment. Life was, as it always is and forever will be, on the whole good.