Eat

The New Face of Melrose

March 20, 2014

The sudden midnight closure of Melrose, the iconic property which helped give the famed 17th Ave its ‘Red Mile’ image, may have left a sour taste in its patrons mouths… But the former venue will soon have a resurrection.

Melrose Calgary AB 17th Ave

There have been several rumours on what the heritage building will become, and through playing a shrewd game of Nancy Drew, I am fairly confident that I am able to confirm its new identity.

I had several clues and tips that lead me in a variety of directions.

Melrose Calgary AB 17th Ave 1

The new owners will re-invent the space, and will be investing by installing a fully functioning brewery on the bottom floor.

This originally lead me to believe the new owners would be Wild Rose, but because they just opened their new brewery, I struck that from the list.

Then there were rumours that it might have been bought by Steam WhistleCowboys, or the group behind National.

So I decided to contact all rumoured vendors… And after receiving a ‘not it’ statement from all of them, I felt the case went cold….

Then, an unmarked letter arrived with a confident confirmation about the former Melrose’s new identity.

Mill St. Brewery

millstreet-logo

 

And although I have had no confirmation from Mill St. that the Canadian brewery, founded in December 2002 in Toronto, will be setting up shop in Calgary, I am very confident in that mysterious letter I received.

Mill St Toronto (thegriddoes.com)

So it looks like the Red Mile will still keep their coloured image with the new addition of Mill St. Brewery coming to the city!

Looks like this case is closed, and my endless hours of watching Scooby Doo as a child has finally paid off!

Mr. Fab st

UPDATE

I have always written about what I know and what I have been passionate about, which is why I was so intrigued about the fate of the Melrose location.
I did my research and contacted numerous sources to find out who the new occupants might be.
All directions pointed me in the direction of a brewery and I was told, by who I assumed was a reliable source, that the new face of Melrose would be that of Mill St Brewery.

Today I have been ‘tweeted’ that my sources information is incorrect and although Mill St has not directly contacted me, they have apparently sent out a press release to other parties:

“Although it is no secret the Mill St would love to open a brew pub in Calgary, we have had no discussions or plans regarding any projects which include the space occupied by Melrose.”

If this is true, it is possible my sources may have mislead me… But why?

It looks like this mystery is still unsolved!

That being said the tips continue to roll in and the new one today says the old venue will be splitting into two new vendors.

Time to call Watson and get back on the case.

But who can be trusted!

Mr. Fab

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  1. The group that’s is opening the new location there has multiple restaurants in Calgary, canada and a few in the states. This will be the second location of this concept in Calgary though. The other in on 8th ave. figure it out

  2. Why dont you just spit it out for everyone who would like to know, rather than play stupid games?

  3. Was talking to Wayne the other day and he said Two Restaurants and he should know as he still owns the building.

Looking forward to reading your comments!