Montague Arms to reopen by April - same but different

New Cross News – Montague Arms to reopen at end of March

Two industrious twenty somethings were at work at The Montague when TG cruised by for a chat on Tuesday afternoon. Both sides of the interior are in the process of being gutted, the heart of the old Monty has been torn out. The rest is bound for the skip, and a new, shiny, brighter pub is about to appear. It will be lighter; windows will be cleaned or replaced. The bar area looks like it will be all changed as well, with the partition between function room and bar also removed. It will be a more welcoming and community-based venue, I was told. There will be no more moshing; Rammstein type noise merchants will not be appearing on stage.

I mentioned at this point in the conversation the petition which is appealing to the new owners to keep the venue as it was, with live bands on stage more often than not. There is nothing quite like The Montague in this part of SE London. They knew about the petition but they were not bothered by it. The new owners know what they want. It will be more laid back and all inclusive. The vibe will be funk, soul and jazz. It will not be punk / metal noise merchants. They mentioned a Chilean family had moved in nearby. I don’t know what the problem was; maybe the music and crowd antics had given the kids nightmares? But they didn’t want any more of it. The fellas implied there would still be live music, but of a very different style. So the old Montague is no more. Long live the new one ? We will see.

Dixieland Jazz is the main theme of a new show at Two Temple Place, one of my favourite haunts. There is a small collection of clothes and shoes, drums, 78s by Louis Armstrong and others, programmes and music sheets of all the first jazz music to hit these shores in the 20s and 30s. The explanatory texts are well done and informative, although the reason jazz bands were banned in the 30s was unexplained. The best bit is the art in the upstairs room, with two excellent Edward Burras the highlight. The films with early efforts at ambient and mood animations proved popular. On Wednesdays you can go after work as its open till 9pm, with live music giving the show an extra boost of hip n happenin’ live jazz of the 30’s.