GETTING BUSY ON MONTRÉAL'S BLEURY STREET

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With better known Montréal destinations like St-Laurent and St-Denis, rue de Bleury ( locals drop the rue de, when they talk of the street), might seem like an odd place to start a series of street profiles. But for those in the know, Bleury is a perfect little stretch of Montréal nightlife…

Let’s start with the obvious first question: where is it? Bleury is the street that Avenue du Parc turns into when it crosses Sherbooke and before, in Old Montréal, it hits Viger. Because of the area in Montréal that it covers, it plays hosts to a range of eating, drinking and dancing options.

For any out of town guest, it’s a street you should know because your hotel might be on it (like the Dauphin) or near it (like the Intercontinental or the Hilton Garden Inn). It also crosses through the Quartier des Spectacles , where many of Montréal’s big summer festivals hold their shows. But there’s more…

Let’s start your day at the bottom of Bleury and work our way up. Towards the Old Montréal end of Bleury is the imaginatively-titled Sur Bleury (“on Bleury”) at 1067 rue de Bleury, which is open Monday-Friday during lunch hour. It features great sandwiches and, I’m not sure how else to say this, totally cute lunchboxes. Moving further up the street gets you to a real Montréal institution, Nyk’s ( 1250 de Bleury). While there’s decent, high-end pub food, Nyk’s real appeal is the weekly live jazz nights, local micro-brews on tap, and, when the weather’s nice and the front windows are rolled up, its position as the perfect vantage for St-Catherines’ people-watching.

As your day progresses, so too do your nightlife options. Up next is Le Consulat ( 1442 de Bleury), a cocktail bar mixed with a lounge mixed with a live music venue. For my money it might just have the best range of weekly nights in the city. Whether it’s Tuesday nights and the “live organic improv” of Kalmunity, the funk, soul and hip hop Fridays with local legend Scott C, or for the truly adventurous, the Saturday tango lessons, there’s something for everyone. And finally, just before Bleury turns back into Parc and you turn in for the evening, check into the Vinyl Lounge ( 2109 de Bleury), a DJ-fueled cozy spot for party people that like to go hard.

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