Mile End's Arts Café is closing due to a 40% rent hike

While the recent scare over the closure of a beloved Mile End bookstore ended with a relatively happy resolution, many long-standing businesses in the neighbourhood have suffered and continue to suffer the fate that nearly befell S.W. Welch. Today the anti-gentrification activist group Mile Ensemble shared the bad news about Arts Café on Fairmount. According to comments on the group’s public Facebook page and private group, the café chose to close rather than pay 40% more rent. Unfortunately there won’t be an opportunity for Montrealers to pick up a farewell coffee and snack as owners already loaded out yesterday in the moving truck seen below. At the moment there is no indication that they will be reopening in another location.

(english follows)???? Le 1er juillet arrive rapidement quand on a une augmentation de loyer de 40%. ???? Les fermetures…
Posted by Mile End Ensemble on Thursday, March 25, 2021

In their post, Mile End Ensemble noted that rent increases and subsequent closures of businesses are the visible side of a problem that is facing families who rent in Mile End and across the city. Rent hikes and renoviction are all too commonplace in Montreal, even during the pandemic (when low-income people are at their most vulnerable), which is why movements like Mile End Ensemble exist.

For more about Arts Café, please visit their website.

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