Venue: The Aberdeen Tavern
Home: Chatham
Opened: unknown: Circa 1971.
Closed: Circa 1996.
Last owners: Ron L. (Al & George)
* Aberdeen reunion 2016 info here.
1970’s – Chatham was home to a strong music scene with bands performing at least six nights a week at the Aberdeen. Musicians from all over Ontario join the strong Union in this city. Times are good. Country music rules the day & the Aberdeen is a bar highly respected in the music community. Touring acts from around the world played here when they crossed Ontario.
1980’s – Glam rock takes over. The bar grows rough edges but continues to thrive and becomes a legendary party venue on the touring scene. It can be safely said that no bar may hold more good rock & roll stories than our little watering hole here in Chatham.
1990’s – Live entertainment dwindles down to just three nights a week. By the late 1990’s, the live music bar scene fades & Al & George decide to sell the venue & move. The Aberdeen becomes a storage warehouse for a local business. It still stands today (2011) in all its run down glory. The glory days are over, but the stories will never be forgotten. It was simply Chatham’s most legendary bar.
* The Aberdeens final “weekend” of live bands included Nerve, Never, Square Root Of Margaret & The Janet Theory/Foster Child.
Mama, George & Al. Good Kind people!
If you have any pictures of the venue or Al & George, please send them to us so we can share them. Thanks.
Email us:
chatham_music_archive@hotmail.com
Chatham Music Archive 