The Plains Hotel and the attached pub Good Time Charlie's has been a staple of the Regina nightlife scene for decades. Located in the heart of Regina downtown, on the corner of Victoria Ave and Albert Street the Plains has real history in Regina. Present day it's a dirty dusty old hotel (that would be smokey too if not for the bans) frequented on Sunday nights for their Kareokee. The kind of place that mothers get nervous when their kids mention they've been hanging around there. Every city has a place like this one - like the Albion Hotel in Guelph or that old hotel on Whyte Ave in Edmonton. The place bleeds character and you'd be hard pressed to find a person in Regina between the ages of 20 and 35 who's parents didn't drink there back in the 60's/70's.
Every night is live music or kareokee and the crowd these days is so diverse. It's the only pub in Regina that truly reflects the demographic population of Saskatchewan. Any night of the week you can find a diverse mix of people from the downtown community, aboriginal people, young people, old people, all kinds of people mixing in a working class atmosphere. It's the only place you will find the entire racial demographic of Saskatchewan represented and that is important. For all the trendy wine bars and tapas bodegas all vying to be the trendy new hotspot the Plains Hotel has remained true to the prolitariet. It's a place for common Saskatchewan folks.
As a culturally significant part of the City of Regina, my friends and I have often took vistors to the Plains. Including celebrity visitors. Once we met Canada's own Rick Mercer at a different bar in town and we took him to the Plains hotel for Sunday night Kareokee so he could experience the diverse culture that is Regina. Once when playing a show in town my friends ended up running into the Barenaked Ladies in Regina. We took them to the Plains hotel and I think they had a good time. It's the kind of place that's loaded with history and you can tell just by stopping in for a beer.
Speaking of which the Plains caries the best selection of bottled beer in the city. All the Saskatchewan favourites are available here - in bottles only. OV, Pilsner, Bohemian, Extra Old Stock and Molson Dry are all available at the Plains and all served out of the most outrageous beer bottle dispenser you've ever seen. The beer machine alone is worth a song - you've got to see it to believe it.
Here is the kicker. Recently in the name of development the City of Regina has approved a redevelopment plan for the property. The Plains hotel is to be closed and in it's place a Hilton hotel and a 19 storey condo complex are to be built with construction to begin next summer.
This place has enough cultural significance that a song about it would write itself. Rumour has it that The Plains was even featured in a documentary about kareokee produced by the CBC (although details from memory are vague). It's a place where people - not images, not careers, not social status' meet. People. And it's definately the last pub left in Saskatchewan that might actually represent our people, our population, our past and our indominiable spirit.
More to come on the history and greatness of this truly character location in Regina.
