The east coast’s music industry took another blow today with the closure of Thunder & Lightning in Sackville, New Brunswick. The pub, bowling alley, and music venue has been a staple for bands playing to the university town on their way to and from Halifax.
Thunder & Lightning’s current owners, Glenn Barrington and Anne Herteis took to Facebook today to make the announcement that, after nearly four years in business, they’d be shutting down the pub as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If you were to tell us that what started as a casual offer in a ‘welcome home for the holidays’ conversation with our friend and barkeep at our favourite little pub in Sackville would turn into what our last 4 years have become we’d say ‘no way, you have to be joking.’ We had no experience bartending and no experience running our own business, just a desire to be a part of something that we could truly make our own in a community like no other in the world. We feel so proud of everything we’ve done and how we did it- we wouldn’t change it for anything. What a weird little thing we ended up with and what a wild ride it’s been.
Unfortunately, the present is complicated and the future is unknown – we don’t know when small pubs like ours might re-open, and if we would be able to operate again serving drinks and sharing a small space without fear and stress for each others’ safety.
We’ve come to the very hard decision to close the pub. Despite accessing the supports made available to small businesses we are still unable to meet the expenses for the pub long enough to re-open – especially knowing that reopening will mean reduced capacity and increased overhead. We really feel that by putting this little pub away for a while we can wait until we’re able to one day do what we do best without restrictions and fear.
We want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts to Jon Claytor & Paul Henderson for originally opening this weird place for weirdos; our staff Klarka Weinwurm and Rebecca Blankert for their amazing work and friendship; Geordie Miller and his roster of hosts always keeping things moving; all our previous staff for working out the kinks with us; our regulars that keep us grounded; our friends for all your skills we exploited; our friends who are dogs; artists who displayed their art on the walls; poets and writers that read out loud to the room; and to every musician we had the pleasure of hosting and providing the best possible experience we could no matter who you are, thank you. Thank you so much.”
The news today comes just on the heels that Saint John’s Taco Pica restaurant, another of New Brunswick’s small venues, would be closing. Both provided a home-away-from-home for many up-and-coming bands in their respective areas, and even more that were just passing through.
The Government of New Brunswick announced on Saturday that restrictions imposed on the province’s restaurants during the current state of emergency would be lifted, with proper social distancing procedure in place.
Thunder & Lightning: FACEBOOK