After twenty years of being in business, one of Fredericton’s favourite music venues will be undergoing some changes. Starting 14 March 2020, The Capital Complex will be shaking things up with a little rebranding, a bit of restructuring and a lot more reason to stop in.
The first change will be in the establishment’s name; The Capital Complex will be no more. It will officially be named what locals have already been calling it for decades: The Cap. In addition, the bar will be adding an on-site nano craft brewery, and it will be opening its doors to the earlier daytime crowds as a hangout space and a record store.
Among their already respectable array of local beers, The Cap has plans to maintain two beer lines of their own, with sessionable brews and tasty IPAs on regular rotation. The first of said beers will be their Collaborate & Listen Citra Pale Ale, brewed in collaboration with Graystone. It will be available in all three of the bar’s venues and at the Fredericton Craft Beer Festival starting Friday, March 6.
The idea behind the decision to sell records during the daytime is to further promote local music. The Cap will stock albums by musicians who are local or touring the area, as well as other new and relevant releases.
The rebrand comes a little over one year after Atkinson, the bar’s general manager of ten years, took over as owner in January 2019.
No plans to sell food are yet in place, but Atkinson says he will be bringing in a few food trucks and start-ups for pop-up events and hopes to get a feel for what the customers might want.
But these changes don’t mean patrons will be losing any piece of the bar as they know it.
“We’ll always be a music venue,” says Atkinson. “We’ve built the space to allow us to run as a record shop by day and still open in the evenings to host artists. It’s similar to what we’ve done in our spaces (Wilser’s/Phoenix) where tables move or can live on the walls to make space for artists and music fans.”
“The foundation of our business, through its 20-year history, is supporting the local music and creative scene. Craft beer has become a favourite go-to for our customers and we wanted to get creative ourselves and offer our own line of craft beer. By opening The Capital Bar during the day and adding retail including vinyl, local music and concert tickets to local shows, we hope to further enhance the music and craft beer scene that we’ve been fostering.”
The Capital Complex’s former owner, Wes Ward, has confidence in the direction Atkinson is taking with the bar.
“The Capital has been such a big part of my life, as well as many others in Fredericton for over 20 years,” says Ward. “One of the main reasons behind the succession of the Capital to Zach was that I knew he would put the work in and have the creativity to sustain the Capital for the next generation. Any new activity we can add to the downtown core is a plus for Fredericton. I wish Zach and his crew nothing but the best.”