There seemed to be magic in the name: Verve Bar & Grill. Don’t ask patrons to explain that, unless of course you have hours to kill. On Wednesday May 18 at approximately 3 a.m. the magnet for visitors and residents alike went up in flames, so far inexplicably. Two months ago there had reportedly been an arson attempt at the location in Rodney Bay. Several weeks ago the popular Matthews Restaurant, Hollywood Pizza, Q-Bar and the Laundromat were destroyed by fire. Arson is suspected.
As for Verve, for regular Rodney Bay ravers it had always be the happenin’ place. In almost no time at all the establishment appeared to have overwhelmed other contenders for the people’s number one bar and grill award. But it was not without its danger signals.
Just a few Sundays ago, while a friend and I sat down in the Verve carpark enjoying the evening ambience, a loud bang like a car back-firing jolted us. With other patrons scampering in search of safer spots, we soon realized that what we had heard was the sound of gunfire. My friend and I took refuge behind a parked vehicle, from which position we saw a man drop to the ground. Another shot was fired that went past us, too close for comfort. Then a reassuring voice told us there was no need to panic. The police had arrived.
To this day nothing has been reported about that particular evening at Verve. And then came the news that the Verve was no more. A friend’s reaction: “How does one get through a weekend without a few hours of stress-relieving VERVing? This is worse than a bottle being snatched from a hungry baby.”
I concur. Verve will be sadly missed. Rodney Bay is simply not the same without the popular bar and grill—and the sense that anything could happen when least expected. Of course rumours abound. The word is that the place didn’t just burn down; another much larger place is soon to spring up where Verve once reigned. And let’s not even get to the stories involving firearms and strange scented smoke!
