Montreal’s Blue Dog bar to close by end of month

Blue Dog Bar is closing down. (Facebook/Bar Blue Dog)

Blue Dog, a bar and music venue on the bustling Saint-Laurent Street downtown Montreal, will close by the end of July after 18 years in business.

The bar made the announcement on social media Thursday, saying it will not be able to honour bookings after July 19.

“Due to a number of factors, it’s with heavy hearts that we share we’re closing,” the bar said on Instagram. “We know this may come as a disappointment, and we deeply regret the inconvenience.”

Montrealers online speculated the closure was due to noise complaints as the bar was recently fined.

Champs bar, which is right next to Blue Dog, temporarily closed due to noise complaints and had to ban dancing as it lacked permits.

Blue Dog had recently become a full-time venue for live music.

But a representative from the bar told CTV News it simply was not busy enough anymore.

“[It’s a] really small business with small margins and we had been keeping it going as long as we could without making a profit and that’s really it,” they said.