The centre piece of entertainment and dining in Ocho Rios has a new home and a new generation of leaders
For years Ocho Rios was the focal point of the North Coast entertainment and the centre of Ocho Rios was the Little Pub. It was the place, in the 70s to the 90s, right near the clock, to hang out, to have a good meal to try some new brew and just to cross paths. It was also the scene of some great shows, of drumming, singing, dance and drama.
The nation and its visitors have been without that centre of entertainment for more than a decade, after Little Pub burnt down in 2002. On Saturday night, August 30 Keith Foote, businessman, artiste, producer and the man who gave Jamaica The Little Pub re-introduced it to the old and a new generation and explained that his own family of younger people want to take the baton.
It’s now in a new venue, Little Pub at Island Village. The club, restaurant and bar are in a grand arrangement almost semi circular to the outdoor, under used stage and amphitheatre at Island that has lost some of its sheen. Dr Jamie-Lee Foote, Keith Foote’s daughter who with his son Kevin Foote, in Canada, are said to be the ones behind the massive investment for the renaissance of Little Pub. The family acknowledged Patricia Isaacs, as a leading force behind the rebirth of The Little Pub. Jaime-Lee was there on Saturday evening, welcoming the guests and speaking about the dream.
There weren’t a lot of young people in the audience. There were lots of the generation that knew Little Pub but not enough of the ones who would need to make the new Little Pub at the Village.
Few who have seen The Digger will ever forget it. The Little Pub experience used to be about entertainment and so good were the pieces that they were taken to make the resorts and other big date events, on the grounds of Couples, Sandals, Breezes and so on, and beyond the parish.
They were not the inane touristy noise and stereo types corruption of history as performance yet they were stylized enough to be understood by people from different cultures.
On Saturday evening, August 30, there was a good set, with a set of drummers, gymnasts and contortionists called ??…Performing Arts, from Manchester, that wowed many with what they could do with their bodies to the music they drummed.
The audience was appreciative and wanted more.
Then came Baldie, the centre piece performer, emcee, cheer leader of the Little Pub. As the emcee Tony Munroe remarked, Baldie, given name Small doesn’t seem even a year older than when the shows stopped over a decade ago. Baldie worked with Keith Foote at Little Pub from 1969 and turned to singing in 1973 and earned a name for himself.
Saturday night he started with Pluto Shervington’s ‘Ramgoat Liver’ and went through a medley that comprised range of local artistes, before the show closed and turned to Peter Phillips Disco.
The complimentary bar and hors douvres continued after the formal end.
Among the many in the crowd were: Dr John McDowell, Sue McManus, Eva Myers, Lyndsay and ??? Isaacs, Lindel and Belinda Nash, Harry Chung, Franxie Dixon, Robert Moyston, Dennis Atkinson and Herman Webley. Vanna Taylor brought greetings from the tourism community
There was a time when if you had a family member down to Ocho Rios or you had people from overseas as your house guests you had to take them to The Littre Pub to show off something authentically Jamaican. And there too you would find many tourists, who had just walked in off the streets or who came by tour bus.
It’s another type of tourism now though and perhaps Keith Foote and the new generation know that too well. Mr Foote says they want to market the new Little Pub to Jamaican companies who want space for big parties and events as well as to tourists.. He said locals who he wants to enjoy the new ambience and the shows to be provided will be his primary target. The new Little Pub at the Village opens 10 o’clock to the end of enjoyment everyday, except Sundays when it opens at noon.
