Ottawa's Cafe Dekcuf shuttered due to 'economic downturn'

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Amid a post-pandemic economic downturn, the owners of Ottawa’s Cafe Dekcuf have closed the cheekily named live-music club on Rideau Street after a series of disputes with the landlord, who’s now scrambling to make the January mortgage payment.?

In a message posted to social media, Dekcuf owners, including Ben Belanger, said their hearts were “heavy” in making the decision to close the club. They thanked supporters and apologized to the bands that were booked to perform in 2025. All upcoming shows are cancelled.?

The second-floor club, which has a capacity ranging from 70 seated patrons to 150 standing, is located in the same building as Mavericks, a bigger live-music club on the main floor that has been fairly quiet in recent months while billing itself as an event space to rent.?

Stéphane Trepanier and a partner took over Mavericks in 2019, and Trepanier later purchased the building, a move that made him Cafe Dekcuf’s landlord.?He said Belanger sent him a curt message last Saturday informing him the upper-level premises had been vacated and the café would close on Dec. 31.?

“Please further be advised that due to the economic downtown in the economy (sic), there are no funds to further continue to pay the lease into the new year of 2025,” Belanger wrote.?

There are other reasons he decided to shut down. In a lengthy email to the Ottawa Citizen, Belanger described a string of disputes with Trepanier that started with the renovation costs and escalated to become a battle over everything from the terms of the lease to the condition of the plumbing. Belanger said he wanted to leave quietly to avoid further problems.

“The bar itself was doing OK at best,” Belanger wrote. “The overhead was high and the drink sales were low. A few times I needed to top up the account out of pocket to keep the bar coasting. The bar was never about making money, though, it was about supporting the community. We never expected to get rich; we just wanted to keep the lights on.”?

Still, the situation frustrates Trepanier, who is out of the country on a family vacation, because he says they could have worked something out if Belanger had approached him earlier, or he could have found a new tenant. He said in an interview that four or five other interested parties had approached him this year about taking over the space.?

Instead, he had three days’ notice to scrape together a mortgage payment of thousands.

Also worrisome is the possibility that the break in tenancy risks ending the existing liquor licence. If so, Trepanier said it could take months to get a new licence.??

It’s increasingly difficult to run a business in Ottawa’s downtown core, he added, partly because of the homeless population in the Rideau Street area. Vandals have broken into the Mavericks building, staff have been attacked and people camp on the doorstep. An extra security guard has to be hired for each event to keep ticketless folks out, he said.?

But Trepanier says it’s his dream to own a building on Rideau Street, and he’s not giving up. He looks forward to a fresh start in 2025, ideally with new tenants in the upstairs space and the revitalized Mavericks set to open in the next couple of months.?

Meanwhile, people who have either performed at Dekcuf or attended shows over the past two decades have been sharing their memories on social media.?

Musician/producer Dean Watson recalled landing in Ottawa in 2002, not intending to stay in the city.?

“Cafe Deckuf (sic) was at that time a mecca for the indie scene,” he wrote. “I was there a LOT. Loved the place and vibe. I met so many friends, saw and played countless shows there. I ended up getting busy making records with many folks I met through that scene and I suppose it had a part to play in me staying in Ottawa. Sad to see it go.”

Other fans described the cozy spot with exposed brick walls and a small stage as a staple in the Ottawa music scene. Many pointed out that it was a key spot to showcase niche subcultures, from punk and metal to psychedelic electronic dance.?

Cafe Dekcuf opened in 2001 in the space that housed another fondly remembered Ottawa live-music club of the 1990s, the Whipping Post.?

The name Dekcuf was derived by spelling an expletive in reverse.?

lsaxberg@postmedia.com

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