means a night out includes ‘real conversations’

26 December 2009
Jean-Sébastien Marier, Special to The Gazette
The Gazette, Montreal, p. A3
(Also available in .pdf)

Jean-Claude Télémaque may have kicked the bottle 20 years ago, but it did not prevent him from becoming a club owner.

But Lounge L’Anonyme is slightly different from other bars – it is alcohol-free.

“I really want people who quit drinking,” Télémaque said of his target clientele.

The 50-year-old DJ opened his 5,000-square-foot lounge in May 2006.

“It’s not the first (alcoholfree club) in Montreal,” Télémaque said. “I worked in one in the 1990s.” The location closed about 14 years ago.

The concept is not unique to Montreal, either. Alcoholfree bars exist elsewhere in Canada and abroad. An Islamic pub for those who abstain for religious reasons opened in England last year.

Each Saturday, between 150 to 200 clubbers mingle at Lounge L’Anonyme to follow the rhythm of the night, relax in the comfy couches or challenge one another at one of the three pool tables.

But the lack of alcohol does not mean clients drink only soft drinks and water.

The lounge offers a selection of mocktails and energy drinks, explained bartender Kathy McNicoll.

“We have the virgin Caesars, which everyone knows, just without vodka. I can do juice blends.”

McNicoll quit drinking cold turkey a year ago. The 25-year-old said her parttime job at L’Anonyme “is not work, it’s fun.”

Fun without the pressure to drink is what brings many clients here.

Daniel Paquette has been sober for three years. “I don’t drink. So I can play pool and dance,” he said, adding he likes to attend L’Anonyme once a while as a way to recover.

Kitty Harris, director of the Centre for the Study of Addiction and Recovery at Texas Tech University, agrees.

“People will say, you know, ‘why don’t we go have a drink’ or ‘why don’t we go meet at the bar after work,’ or what ever. And one of the things that happens in recovery is that you lose that opportunity oftentimes to socialize if you’re choosing not to frequent places that serve alcohol,” Harris said.

“(A place like L’Anonyme) is a great way to access socialization.”

An alcohol-free bar also means a safer environment, said Martin Vallé, Télémaque’s business partner of three years. It eliminates many behavioural risks normally caused by alcohol consumption, he explained.

Vallé observed “there are more and more people who don’t want to drink” when going out.

But the lack of alcohol does not mean that partygoers are shyer, McNicoll said.

“On the contrary. No one vomits on the ground in the corner. The women or people that you meet, it’s not illusory. They are real conversations.”

However, serving only non-alcoholic drinks deprives owners from a major source of revenue. Other alcohol-free lounges have closed for this reason.

To address this, Télémaque found alternative uses for his space.

“The original idea wasn’t that, but for it to be financially sustainable, I had to do that,” he said.

A salsa group uses the venue several nights a week and hockey games are shown on the bar’s large screen. Private groups also can rent the dance floor on Fridays.

Lounge L’Anonyme is hosting a party New Year’s Eve.

Of course, no alcohol will be served. But as McNicoll puts it, there will be a lot of fun on the menu.