LD19847

The website has had a refresh with a new logo and you can see pictures of the refurbishment: Stockbarmedia | gay male strippers | 1171 Saint Catherine Street East, Montreal, QC, Canada WWW.STOCKBARMONTREAL.COM StockbarMontreal presents the best gay male strippers from Montreal's famous Stock Bar. Live sexy models...

A couple of recent experiences to share: Chris, based in Clapham, South London. Very professional & a good therapeutic massage. For me there was no sensual element - others may have different experiences. Massage 4 London | Male massage in Clapham, South London WWW.MASSAGE4LONDON.CO.UK Massage 4 London offers the best male massage in London. Feel fantastic with Therapeutic, Deep Tissue... Mack, Fitzrovia Based within walking distance of Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road Tube stations. Relatively expensive but a great physique and you are assured the opportunity for mutual touch. https://rentmasseur.com/MassageMack

I noticed this statement on the Stock website. It looks like District Video Lounge, Le Date and Saloon, are all under the same ownership? Also, it appears that Stock is now closed on Sunday. "Dear valued customers and friends It is with mixed emotions that we announce Steven and Bobby, our beloved owners, have decided to leave the business after 18 wonderful years. We are grateful for their hard work, dedication, and the positive impact they had on our community. They will be deeply missed, but we wish them all the best in their future endeavours. But, as the saying goes, when one door opens, another one opens. We are excited to announce that our new owners have over 100 years in gay bar management. We are confident that they will bring a fresh perspective, new ideas, and an unwavering commitment to our community. We look forward to introducing them to you in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we have some big announcements on the horizon, so stay tuned! We are thrilled to continue serving our community and providing a safe and welcoming space for everyone. We also want to assure you that Anthony, our website manager, is still on board and will continue to provide you with the latest information on events, specials and everything in between. Once again, we thank Steven and Bobby for their years of service and welcome our new owners with open arms. We can't wait to see what the future holds!"

Wishing Danny and George every success with Stock under their ownership and I hope Steven and Bobby enjoy a well deserved break. I've had many great nights at the club and really hope a trip to Montreal to visit Stock remains a part of my summer for years to come.

Any one met with Pieter? Based in Brussels, but regularly visits London: https://rentmen.eu/Pieter

Denzel, also famously known as Eddie, has recently reappeared on the dancer roster for Stock: https://www.stockbar.com/en#dancers I don't know if the footage in the highlights reel is actually recent, though I see from the clips Denzel performed at the club last weekend. It would be great if many of the former legends of Stock (Philippe, Yannick etc) could be persuaded to return.

CBC News is reporting that the COVID-19 vaccination requirement will be dropped for travellers entering Canada, as will random testing of arrivals: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/government-lifting-pandemic-border-measures-1.6591883

Please indulge me a little. This is a long post. Before heading to Montreal for the first time in four years, I wondered how I would write up the weekend. Would it be a celebration of a triumphant return to form? Or would it be a farewell to the city I love? First, A Little History My love affair with Montreal was not planned. In 2004, I booked a trip travelling across Canada. Montreal was a part of the itinerary I hadn’t thought about much. I’d heard about Stock Bar before the trip. I was quite nervous about visiting a strip bar for the first time and almost didn’t go. Fortunately, I did and the rest is history. A dancer called Marco caught my attention almost immediately on arrival and I had my first ever private dance. After the club closed for refurbishment due to the fire at Unity, I returned in 2006. Fortunately, Marco was still there. From there on I have returned to Montreal almost every summer, typically on holiday weekends to have a good four nights Thursday to Sunday. I’ve seen clubs elsewhere in Fort Lauderdale and Toronto but none came close to Montreal. I have visited Campus a few times and to be honest have not stayed for more than 10 minutes. It’s Stock Bar’s appeal that has endured. It wasn’t just Stock, but also the city. Compact, easy to get around, friendly and plenty of green space. Much has changed. Back in 2004, Montreal and The Village was an escape I needed. The Village has changed and I certainly no longer have neither the energy nor interest to head to Unity or Stereo after Stock. In that time many legends of Stock have come and gone. All this time I’ve never been under any illusions. One day my visits to Montreal would come to an end. May be the clubs would fall victim to gentrification. May be the city would have a licensing crackdown. Or other changes in my life would put this all to a stop. My last trip was in 2018. After a four year gap primarily due to COVID, I returned this year for Labor Day weekend. I was well aware things would not be the same as before COVID-19. But how did it go? The Village The decline of The Village was been well documented. As for as vacant real estate goes, this is the worst it has been. With Gallerie Blanc and the boules project ended, there is little reason to go on a weekday. Saloon Bar now opens at 5pm every day, apart for brunch between 10am and 3pm on Sundays. There are ongoing efforts at placemaking with planters and platforms on the street and disco balls suspended from the lamp posts. Friday I would normally go to Stock on a Thursday but being aware it was quieter, I skipped this. The Village was busy on Friday night with many restaurant terraces full of patrons. I arrived at Stock at around 8.50pm. The cover was $10. My heart sank on entering. There were about 5-10 patrons and I spotted 2 dancers outside and another 2 in the club. The bar on the right hand side was closed. No one was dancing on stage, until Fabio appeared at about 9.15pm. I’d never seen Stock like this before on the weekend. I ventured over to Campus where the cover was $8. The club was much busier with patrons but no-one was dancing on stage. Though, a dancer soon appeared. Returning to Stock the club did soon start to fill up and was pretty full by 11pm. But the problem was clear, a lack of dancers. Each dancer’s slow and fast performances were interspersed by music, rather than a fast and slow performance by two other dancers. Also, no dancer all weekend performed their slow dance fully nude - most did in underwear or more. There were a few female patrons but the majority of the crowd was male. The rule seems to be that female patrons can only enter the club as part of mixed groups. Two girls at the entrance were asking men if they could enter the club with them. I didn’t see Joe, a former dancer who went into a management role. Nor one of the very long serving bartenders. Saturday Saturday was a much stronger night. Arriving at around 9.30pm there were, at a rough guess, 40-50 patrons. Both bars were open and the club soon filled up. Again, there were relatively few dancers but those on stage were well received by the crowd who all had a good time. There were no duo or shower shows. Speaking to other patrons on the night, many were at the club for the first time. Apart seeing old clips on the screens between dances, they would not know any different. One stand out dancer for me was, coincidentally, named Marco. I made the mistake of turning him down for a private dance as I had not seen him on stage yet. Really thick rugby player style physique. I didn’t catch him afterwards but hoped he’d be there again on Sunday. Big mistake. Sunday In the past Sundays on holiday weekends have attracted reasonably sized crowds. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. Arriving at 9pm there were 10 patrons and just a small number of core dancers who’d been there all weekend. And no Marco. Admission on Sunday was $8. Returning to the club after a brief walk in The Village, sensing that things were unlikely to change, I returned to my hotel. Concluding Thoughts The pandemic has been devastating for many businesses and survival is an achievement in itself. I had the option of deferring my trip without penalty and, in retrospect, I wish I had waited until next summer before returning. It was nice to be back in the city and there’s plenty else to do in the day but it’s clear at the moment there are not the dancers available to sustain 4 clubs in Montreal. Many sectors have experienced labor shortages and there were many businesses across the city advertising for staff. I’ve seen reports of issues specific to Stock but I hope the club is able to return to its former glory. Is this the end? Never say never. I’ll continue to keep a watchful eye on Montreal but I’d want to be confident that things have turned around before returning. Side Notes Apart from some venues closing and others changing opening hours one other change is that Montreal has fully embraced contactless payment since I was last there. Some businesses are now cashless. Also the Metro was free all weekend on the core central stations between Peel and Berri-UQAM on the green line and Berri-UQAM and Place-d’Armes on the orange line.

I'd also recommend Aydan who is based in Battersea, South London: http://www.massagebattersea.co.uk/index.php Not London based, but regularly visits. Super easy going, friendly and can accommodate in a nice hotel: https://rentmen.eu/Dublin_Masseur Haven't seen QualityMassage since COVID-19 and he's moved studio since, but he was great as well: https://rentmasseur.com/QualityMassage A couple more who've been around for quite a while, but haven't had any experience of are Adonis and Seb: https://www.masseurfinder.com/massage-therapists/37986/ https://www.malemassages.co.uk

Sadly today's Pride Parade is cancelled due to a lack of security personnel: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-pride-parade-cancelled-1.6544108

Joey Van Damme, if you like bodybuilders. There's plenty of pictures in the gallery. Joey stopped advertising a few years ago, but was continuing to meet existing clients in Montreal, at least before COVID-19. Someone else may be able to add up to date information.

Stock Bar has posted on Instagram that will open on Sundays, starting July 3rd.

If it's the same person I remember from a few years ago (he was based near Charing Cross Road at the time) he's a nice guy in good shape but his profile pictures were not of him.

Has anyone met with Adam? https://www.londoncitymassage.co.uk

Stock has confirmed on its Instagram account it reopens next week. The first night looks like Ladies Night on March 2nd and then the regular night from Friday March 4th.

Anyone met with Daniel? https://rentmen.eu/danielvelascos

All bars in Quebec must close from 5pm today as part of wide ranging measures: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/new-closures-covid-19-quebec-1.6292622 https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/health-issues/a-z/2019-coronavirus/measures-in-force/activities-outings/restaurants-bars-breweries-taverns-casinos

Aydan, based in Battersea, is a great guy: http://www.massagebattersea.co.uk Stephen, who I've not met, has recently started massage work in Battersea: https://rentmen.eu/V_Glutes

Thanks for the update. I really hope to be able to return to Montreal next summer. Shame about Second Cup closing - was a popular spot for people watching!

I used to be quite a fan of the VistaMen videos in the early days of the internet. I bought their catalogue of DVDs from them before the studio closed a few years ago. I really used to like Aaron Quatrale who went on to work in real estate in Florida, but much of his history with VistaMen seems to have been erased from the Internet. I remember Marcel's window cleaning scene from Muscle Boys Of Summer. I haven't heard any news about Marcel for quite a while but yes he has had a problems over the past ten years and I've seen reports he has been arrested at least twice. Mark Dalton was another model who spent time in jail.

The UK government has announced a significant relaxation of the rules for residents of the European Union & United States who have been fully vaccinated. They will no longer need to quarantine when arriving in England from an "amber list" country from Monday August 2: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57999362

I note there have been quite a few new dancers added to the roster on the Stock bar website.

Greg is now posting again on social media:

Fully vaccinated Americans could be allowed to visit Canada from mid August: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-us-border-vaccinations-1.6105110

No one is expecting the current travel ban (which has very limited exceptions) to be lifted by the US until September at the earliest. Assuming Frazer is still in the UK, If I was planning on booking I'd be curious to know how he can enter the US first!