'It’s a sad day': Last call for the Cambridge Hotel on Pembina as it's set to close

It’s the last call at the Cambridge Hotel.

“It’s terrible. I mean, it’s like we’re losing part of the community,” said Don Benson, a regular of the ‘Camby’ for more than 50 years. “Everybody knows everybody here. It’s a sad day; that’s all I can say.”

The 86-year-old hotel on Pembina Highway is set to close its doors Tuesday. Owner Bryan Klein, whose family has owned the hotel since 1977, told CTV News this decision has been years in the making.

“It's time. You know the hotel is quite old. It was built in 1938 and it's had different additions and renovations, but it needs some new treatment,” he said. “Tomorrow night is the last hurrah.”

While Klein has sold the building, he is also a part of the new ownership group planning to build a six-storey mixed-use residential apartment block in its place.

READ MORE: Redevelopment proposed at site of Cambridge Hotel on Pembina Highway

Klein said demolition of the Cambridge Hotel and beer vendor will happen this winter.

It is the latest fixture along Pembina Highway to close its doors, making way for new developments revamping the entrance to Fort Garry.

Across the street from the Cambridge Hotel, construction is currently underway on a 12-storey mixed-use residential development where the old Pembina Hotel once stood.

“We're renewing Pembina in a really nice way,” Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort-Rouge East Fort Garry) said.

“I'm excited about it. I always could envision a better opening to Fort Garry... and these two bookends will be, I think, the legacy of these two institutions.”

Rollins said these developments bring needed density to an important transit corridor and add commercial stock to rejuvenate the space.

But it is the end of an era for long-time regulars – folks like Terry Dann, who said the 'Camby' has been the favourite watering hole of his rugby club for more than 50 years.

“I first started coming here in 1965 and it's been the place where the Wasps and other rugby clubs have gone for their post game beers ever since,” he said.

He and the club had one last round at the hotel on Saturday, recounting the decades’ worth of memories spent together at the ‘Camby’.

“All things come to an end, and I think it was a pretty good run, nearly 60 years.”