Around $50,000-$60,000 in beer, liquor, and other bar items has been stolen from Reggie’s Place Tavern since the bar was boarded up after a suspicious fire in the apartments above it on July 30, said bar owner Reggie Daigle in an interview with SooToday.
The thefts occurred during eight or nine break-ins said Daigle, happening ‘just about every week’ since the fire.
But amongst all the items, Daigle is most concerned about a 36 lb taxidermied brown trout that was given to him after his father died.
“That’s what broke the camel’s back – my father’s fish. Right now I don’t care about anything else. He caught it in the summer of 1975 (and) in the fall of 1975 he passed away. It was part of memory. I used to be a commercial fisherman myself,” said Daigle.
A painting of a missing photo of Reggie Daigle's father holding the 35 lb brown trout that was recently stolen from his bar. Photo suppliedThe break-ins started one week after the first fire, he said.
Based on what he could tell, the culprits (possibly culprit) climbed up on to the roof using a bench or other means, kicked in boarded up windows on the second floor, and then made their way down to the bar.
When he discovered the first break in, around Aug. 18, he immediately knew something was wrong because bar items had been moved around.
At that time Daigle went into the basement and found that two coolers and a secure area had been broken into and 140 bottles of ‘every type you could imagine’ had been stolen — a value of $5,600 he said.
“I used to carry a lot of liquor so that when I went on holidays they had enough at the bar,” said Daigle.
Throughout the rest of August and into September the break-ins kept happening.
The thieves cleaned out his fully stocked bar of 160 cases of beer, valued at $6400.
They also took neon signs and an estimated $30,000 or more in stereo equipment, tools, televisions, and miscellaneous bar equipment and items.
Daigle would come in and see that the suspected thieves had stacked beer and electronics around the back door, presumably for easier access to the items.
During all the weeks he just kept reporting incidents to the police and repairing entranceways and windows he said.
It was during the last break in, in early October, that someone stole his father’s fish, said Daigle.
“I don’t know why someone would want it to tell you the truth. There is no place in Ontario that you can hang that fish and people won’t know it came from the bar,” said Daigle. “I’ll ll find it eventually. It will go through the grapevine…. It’s the only one in Ontario like that.”
Daigle isn’t sure, but because he can’t find it he also thinks the thieves stole a photo of his father holding the fish.
Why would they take the photo?
“That’s a good question. It’s no good to you — the fish is no good to you,” he said.
The bar itself is now going to need to be completely gutted and renovated said Daigle.
At first Daigle thought it would be a few days, then a month or two, and now the estimate for getting the bar back up and running is mid-January.
“I’ve basically lost everything I have…. If it wasn’t for all the people that I know from this building that like coming here, I would just bulldoze it,” he said.
Reggie’s Tavern has historically had a very diverse clientele from the Mayor, to the poorest in the city.
“When you walk in the doors here everyone’s an equal. It doesn’t matter how much money you — you’re an equal person. And everyone loves coming here,” said Daigle.
Daigle said when the bar is back up and running he’ll have a grand opening to celebrate.
Information regarding the break-in could not be independently verified with police, who cited privacy concerns.