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by Melinda Vercini Noonan Staff Writer
OLD ORCHARD BEACH – Armand Vachon says it's just for fun but the
British style pub he plans to open at the Oceanic Inn on West Grand
Avenue has a great deal more work involved.
'The 27 year old owner doesn't drink alcohol himself any more but doesn't
see anything wrong in giving others a good time.
“I enjoyed years of drinking.” he says, although such consumption
is no longer “necessary in my life.” But, for those who enjoy
a brew or two. He is making the setting as comfortable as possible.
By Friday, he says he will have worked out “the kinks” in
time to give people “ a really nice place,” with live music
and no loud noise.
A pianist and “other good musicians” will be on tap from Thursday
until midnight through Saturday, 2 pm. To 1 am. And Sunday from 12 noon
until midnight.
“Munchies” will be available and with fieldstone awaiting
a finishing touch on the bar, the rest is yet to come.
“ I naturally want to make my money back,” he says, but given
other local business successes, he's into what he calls “ a quality
affair.”
The opening, on halo ween, is a bit unusual timing for the Beach, but
avoiding the “summer madness” is part of the program.
Creating “ mood “ is paramount, for th man who literally dug
in to get through.
Ask /Daniel Ray, the manager of the place, should helped dig out the
cellar, 10 feet at a time, for six days, “ all the way.”
Raye, who says he has “ a roundabout way of jobs” has, at
28, at least a title. He also has a wife, Jane and a two month old infant,
so what looks like a steady job could help.
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The cellar, which actually started out as a crawl space, was the only
part of the house not being utilized, but that was 30 yards – and
quite a few handfuls of dirt ago.
Now that the cellar is a room, where Vachon says he didn't “cut
any corners.”
The juice bar atmosphere, and the activities created, can be more typical
of the Beach, but Vachon is placing hi money, and his reputation on
th line.
“There's nothing honky-tonk” he says. “Everything is
to shelf.”, and the that goes for the people from the public as
well as private parties who want a non-partisan atmosphere.
In Great Britain, Vachon points out, pubs attract people from “bank
presidents to ditch diggers” who “sit and drink beer together.”
All they know, he says. “is that they know nothing.”
People up into their 60s “won't get lost,” he says, and the
sedate atmosphere should make people part of the small town, with a
lively center.
“ I never got discouraged” he says, at 10 bricks a day or
a thousand.”
“Everything,” he says, was of concern, “but the mindlessness.”
according to society's “definition of success;” he says he's
“unique.”
My life is not hedonistic,” he says. The planet is just such a
small place ... I don't even know what I am.
This article appeared in the Portland Press when the Soho Pub was
fist built years ago.
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