Downtown Winnipeg is home to a number of notable historic live venues. But there’s one great venue many Winnipeggers have probably never heard of, let alone soaked up a night of fine music in. Nestled way the hell and gone out in Old Transcona, the Royal George Hotel is a beauty of a spot.
“It’s really not that far,” laughed Rick Penner over a coffee in the upstairs office of the 101 year old Royal George Hotel. “It’s just out of the way.”
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The Royal George, which has been in operation at 123 Regent Ave West since 1913, was once the finest hotel in Transcona, a community that has always maintained a separate identity from Winnipeg. The bar itself has been hosting live music “since the 60s, with groups on the weekends.”
Penner, who used to own the Windsor Hotel in downtown Winnipeg, along with his business partner Greg Pester, have been running the Royal George for 14 years now. Initially, Penner tried to recreate the blues based atmosphere of the Windsor, with limited success.
“The blues wasn’t working so well,” Penner told Noisey. “It was more of a down home, blue-collar sort of place. Old, young, everybody came into here. So Greg, being in the music business so long, figured we could transform it into seven days a week of live music.”
“We started off with Thursday, Friday, Saturday,” Pester, who has been playing the bar scene in Winnipeg, and across North America, since the 1970s. “Then, when [liquor laws changed], and we could open Sundays, I asked all the older folks who wouldn’t come out during the week because it was too late for them what they’d like to see on Sundays. They wanted country, so we’ve been doing Hot Country Sundays now for what? Eight or nine years now.”
Following the success of Hot Country Sundays, the Royal George added Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, with a focus on younger, emerging bands. Providing a space for young bands to cut their teeth is something both Penner and Pester take pride in.
“I’ve always believed that to bring longevity to the music scene in Winnipeg you gotta give the guys coming up a place to play,” Penner said.
“I been a musician all my life,” added Pester, who still plays the blues every Wednesday night at the George. “I’ve always said that once on stage is worth ten times in the basement. Giving the young guys ice time is important.”
Apart from offering local upstarts a place to flex their musical muscles, Rick and Greg have also been committed to bringing in big names in blues and country. Blues legends Little Ed, Bryan Lee, Lou Pride, Jack Semple, and Junior Brown have packed the house, as have the Sheepdogs and Tim Hus, the heir to Stompin’ Tom’s black Stetson crown as king of Canadiana country.
“Tim Hus, he come in and there was a whole bunch of young people, maybe 40 or so of these young guys right in front row,” Pester recalled with a chuckle. “Guy said, ‘We’re HusHeads!’ It was a great time.”
Ridley Bent, a Winnipeg based country artist, was in that crowd for the Tim Hus show, and has also played the Royal George. “The sound on stage was great,” Ridley told Noisey. “I really enjoy the atmosphere of the place.”
And not only does the George hosts live music seven nights a week, year round, but the place is quite literally steeped in Manitoba’s musical history. Music memorabilia, from record sleeves and 45s to tour shirts and jackets, classic neon signs to autographed photos of some true Manitoba beauties cover the place from ceiling to floor, and every nook and cranny in between.
“The stuff downstairs, I try to keep it to people who’ve played here or are from here,” Pester, the curator of the amazing collection, explained. “A lot of the Winnipeg talent that’s on the walls, they’ve played here. Maclean and Maclean, they played here many times, and their sons, the Maclean Brothers, play here.”
“Burton Cummings too,” Penner added with a smile. “He’s jammed here a lot.” Indeed, photos of Burt, both official album covers and candid party shots, adorn the walls of the George. If there’s one thing Winnipeggers know, it’s that Burton Cummings likes to party, and party hard. And if Burt (when he still lived in Winnipeg) could make it across town, from his place in Tuxedo to the Royal George on the reg, why haven’t you?
“People say, ‘Oh, I’m not going out to Transcona,’” Penner said. “But say you were in Chicago, you’d go to Buddy Guy’s club. Or you’re in Vancouver, staying North Van, and you’d go to the Yale. Those are all 45 minute cab rides. But I can make it from River Heights to here, at night, in 20 minutes. It really isn’t that far!”
Sheldon Birnie is making a point of dragging his ass across town to the Royal George more often. – @badguybirnie
