The owners of much-loved Milk District bar The Nook on Robinson announced Thursday afternoon that they ar closing up shop within the next few months.
Proprietors Matt Duke and Mary McGinn posted a brief video to the bar’s social media in which the duo simply said, “We need to talk. The Nook is closing.” McGinn then stated that they’ll be throwing a funeral for the bar on their closing night: Halloween. (And we can’t help but bow to that exceptional commitment to black humor.)
But the two made a point to emphasize that between now and that exceptionally dreary Oct. 31, the Nook will be pushing forward with their monthly programming. That means there will be several installments each of monthly events Circuit Church, Please Understand, Golden Flower’s residency, Movie Trash and the bar’s weekly bring your own vinyl night. All of the aforementioned are free and worth your time. Golden Flower will perform tonight (Friday, Aug. 7), in fact, at 8 p.m.
McGinn and Duke opened the Nook on Robinson in the Milk District back in 2018 with a dual focus on craft beers — many local and regional — and community engagement, Recurring music events like Circuit Church and Please Understand have given a lot of local beatmakers and synthesists a place to perform and hone their craft when bigger venues didn’t have a place for them. (It should be noted that Circuit Church’s outdoor shows in the Nook’s parking lot during the pandemic were vital gathering spots.)
In the eight years that they’ve been open, the Nook on Robinson has become a mandatory destination in the Milk District, an intimate and quirkily decorated space where anything could happen — from a Rat Bastard noise set to a LudaChristmas party to a screening of The Room to an invitation to scream at the sky in their parking lot. (Look, 2020 was wild.)
No reason was given for the Nook’s closing (though a few months ago the parking lot behind the bar was unceremoniously turned into a paid lot with a fee of $10 by the property owners), but this is a definite loss for the neighborhood and the city.
