Latest / Off the Bench - London / What’s REALLY Happening in Downtown London?

Transcript

What’s REALLY Happening in Downtown London? · Off the Bench - London

0:00
In 2024, we saw 1 .18 million people come downtown
0:04
just for events. Damn. Yeah. It's a big number.
0:08
That's huge. And when you tell people that, they're
0:09
like... Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to reintroduce
0:18
your hosts, Malcolm the Milkman Noel and Scott
0:23
the Visionary Home. This is the show where life
0:30
and sports collide. Monday night lights and the
0:34
ball comes alive. The bait's getting loud while
0:37
the fans all arrive. From the rink to the field
0:39
to the court where it's live. Breaking down the
0:41
plays while we rocking with the crowd. Waterwall
0:43
TV showing every big play. Half price wings while
0:47
the highlights replay. 650 well shots got the
0:50
whole place vibing. The staff in the city keep
0:52
the whole ball. Grab a drink and take a seat.
1:03
Malcolm the Milkman, Noel the Milkman always
1:06
delivers. He's got the visionary home with the
1:11
taste you might shiver. Talking sports, talking
1:15
life. Yeah, the story's refreshed when the game
1:17
is on. Another episode. Back at it. It's a crazy
1:39
day. July 1st. It's June. Oh, June 1st. Wow.
1:44
See, I can post this episode whenever I want
1:47
now. I know I can't. I know I can't. We have
1:50
too many things we have to cover. June 1st. Yeah.
1:53
It's a big day. I can't believe it's already
1:55
June. I can. I've been waiting for this day for
1:58
a while, actually. I got my shorts on with my
2:01
high socks on, but like, AJ Brown just got traded
2:03
today. Oh, yeah. I've been waiting for this report
2:05
because it's been rumored for a little bit. It
2:09
doesn't matter about the logistics like that.
2:17
I'm happy as an Eagles fan that the toxic person
2:21
is gone. Well, not just him. Jalen Hurts is a
2:25
different story, but we won't talk about that
2:27
today. That's what I mean. That's what I mean.
2:34
I mean, there's bigger news. The absolutely shocking
2:37
one. Miles Garrett. LA. Yeah. I don't know what
2:41
the Browns are doing. Thank God for the, for
2:44
you guys, for the Bengals. Cause like now you
2:47
don't have to worry about him injuring your quarterback.
2:49
Well, I think now it's Jared. They got Jared
2:52
first, but like, that's not the same. It's not
2:54
the same level. at this rate i'm waiting for
3:05
an update saying that aaron donald has retired
3:09
unretired and comes back because then you have
3:12
miles garrett and aaron donald that well that's
3:16
just super well written because that'll definitely
3:18
be Matthew Stafford's last year. LA's getting
3:20
in that position where they have players that
3:23
are eating up both of their caps. But, hey, we'll
3:26
see. It's interesting because they drafted a
3:30
quarterback, but then they extended Stafford,
3:33
obviously, so he gets mad for him a lot. But
3:36
then everyone's like, oh, okay, well, they didn't
3:38
draft him in his first round, so they just traded
3:41
their next draft. They're all in. They're all
3:44
in this year. So, we'll see. Man, we can talk
3:47
about football a lot right now. Because a lot
3:51
has just gone down. Like, Odell Beckham Jr.'s
3:53
back with the Giants. That reunion. That's great.
3:56
But, like, I think there is... Oh, yeah. It's
3:59
true. But, like, you know, every time we've done
4:02
an episode, we've kind of hinted when we have
4:04
a guest. Yeah. And we have an extra chair. That's
4:07
true, yeah. So, I can just move this sign over
4:10
here. And I would like to invite our guest down.
4:14
Hello, boys. Howdy, howdy. How are you guys?
4:17
How are you doing? I'm not from the milk, man.
4:19
But who are you? I'm Brent. Brent, okay. Okay.
4:24
All right. I come from you. I come from downtown
4:26
London to talk to you guys today. I come from
4:29
downtown London. Nice. Yeah, but you live there.
4:31
I wish I would have got the Nike note, though.
4:33
Like, I wore my Vans. No, that's all right. Hey,
4:37
the next time we get you on, we'll make sure.
4:39
No, it's okay. I got Jordan's before he did.
4:42
And then I got them and he was like, I can't
4:44
not have them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of,
4:48
yeah, it's dangerous. Yeah, it's a slippery slope.
4:51
It's like collecting Pokemon cards or Yu -Gi
4:53
-Oh cards or, you know, sports cards, whether
4:57
it's baseball or basketball or Jordans. Yeah,
4:59
about a pair of Jordans. Now I have four pairs.
5:03
Do you wear them all? Yes. Okay. Because I was
5:06
talking to a guy who collects sneakers but doesn't
5:09
wear them. And I was like... How do you not wear
5:12
them? So, I'll tell you guys this as well. So,
5:15
I have size 15 shoes. So, it is hard to find
5:18
size 15 shoes. It's easier than it seems. It
5:21
is. It is. So, when I have shoes, I wear them.
5:24
So, I just can't believe people just buy them,
5:26
throw them on a wall, and never touch them again.
5:28
They do. They do. Like, you see all the, like,
5:35
girls with, like, the cute shoe wraps and all
5:38
their shoes. Yeah. My shoes don't fit on that.
5:41
No. No, they make those wraps for women. They
5:44
don't make them for us because we're going to
5:45
wear our shoes. All right. Well, thank you for
5:48
coming on the episode. Yeah, thanks for having
5:50
me. Downtown London. Yeah. Tell us more about
5:52
y 'all. Yeah, so I come from the Downtown London
5:55
Business Association. So we're an organization
5:57
that exists to... Basically make downtown a destination,
6:01
both for businesses and for events. What we do
6:04
is we promote the businesses that are there,
6:06
but we also promote the events. We give people
6:08
reasons to come downtown, to come explore, discover,
6:11
have fun, and see all the cool things that happen
6:15
downtown. Nice, nice. Now, how long have you
6:18
been in this role? I've been for about 15 months.
6:21
I started March of last year. And in that time,
6:24
seeing some cool programs come up. Right now,
6:28
we're doing the Shop Downtown London to Win program,
6:31
which all you need to do is spend $15 anywhere
6:33
downtown, put your receipt into the contest website,
6:37
and you can win $1 ,000. Now, the cool thing
6:39
about this is that you get $500 of that, and
6:42
you share the other $500 with the business you
6:45
bought from. That's huge. So you are supporting
6:48
the business, and you're allowing them to win
6:50
the contest as well. That's amazing. Yeah. No,
6:54
you can enter up to 20 times a week. A week?
6:56
Yeah. Damn. Yeah, and it runs until June 14th.
7:00
So we're on the last two weeks of the contest
7:02
right now. Damn. Okay. Okay. Obviously, the contest
7:06
is going pretty good. Yeah, so the last time
7:08
we ran this contest was in 2024. And this year
7:11
alone, we've tripled the number of entries that
7:14
we saw in 2024. That's interesting because it
7:17
kind of just gives you guys the ability to track.
7:20
where people are going downtown. Yes. And that's
7:26
the thing, you know, there's a huge storytelling
7:29
part to downtown and it's all in the numbers.
7:31
So we came up with a report last year called
7:34
the Momentum Report. And what we did is we took
7:36
the last five years worth of data, put it all
7:39
in a report and so that people can read the report
7:41
and see how much downtown has improved, whether
7:44
it's through financial improvement, through...
7:48
investments through residential growth business
7:50
growth things like that like to give you an idea
7:53
in 2024 we saw 1 .18 million people come downtown
7:58
just for events damn yeah It's a big number.
8:02
That's huge. And when you tell people that, they're
8:04
like, with those analytics, are you noticing
8:06
that people outside of London are coming downtown?
8:08
Or is it mostly the London community coming downtown?
8:11
So we're seeing a lot come from the north of
8:14
London coming downtown. That's one of the higher
8:17
postal code areas. We do see people coming from
8:20
outside of London, though. Usually in that 90
8:23
minutes area, you know, coming from St. Thomas,
8:26
you know, the little places where, you know,
8:28
it becomes a day trip or a weekend trip. Fair.
8:30
It's interesting just being able to have all
8:32
that data. Yeah. I feel like a lot of people,
8:37
they see these different events and stuff going
8:39
on and they're like, oh yeah, it's just another
8:42
festival. Not saying they're that big, but like,
8:45
it's like, oh, Sunfest, Rift Fest, at a certain
8:48
point everyone starts following David. That's
8:51
Fest Fest. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and the same things,
8:54
you know, and if you... Once you guys start doing
8:57
new, interesting things. Yeah, exactly. And,
9:02
you know, we see, you know, one of the cool things
9:04
is these festivals is that there are local businesses
9:07
a part of it. You look at Rides on Richmond,
9:10
that's Dos Tacos. He puts that on. He stays open
9:14
for the events. He sees lots of people. Look
9:16
at Sunfest this year. You've got Alpenino's,
9:18
the downtown sandwich shop. Yes. They're going
9:20
into the park this year to set up shops so that
9:23
you can go. Oh, wait, what? Yeah. Okay. Okay.
9:26
Damn. Yeah, exactly. And then you look at Taco
9:29
Fest. You know, you've got the Bury a Taco place
9:32
in the market that comes out for Taco Fest. You've
9:34
got all these other places that come and set
9:36
up at these festivals. So, you know, people talk
9:38
about when they go to these festivals that they're
9:41
just at that festival. They don't see anything
9:43
else. And so that's why some of these festivals
9:45
are really cool because they're bringing downtown
9:47
to you through the festival. So it's giving you
9:49
an opportunity to taste their food. I remember
9:52
once it was Taco Fest. I had the Big Mac taco
9:55
from Dos Tacos. And I was like, oh, OK, like,
9:57
where is this place? I need to have this more
9:59
in my life. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah. So
10:03
obviously you work at downtown London. What's
10:06
your favorite taco place? There's a few in downtown
10:08
core. There is. There is. I'm going to grill
10:11
you a lot. Like, where is your favorite this
10:14
or what's your favorite that? So where's your
10:16
favorite taco place? I'm just... You know what?
10:18
There's just too many places to say I have a
10:21
favorite. Smart answer. Smart answer. But, I
10:24
mean, you know, we've got Las Lobos. We've got
10:27
Grill 23 in the Talbot Center. We've got Burrito
10:30
Taco in the Market. We've got Dos Tacos. We've
10:33
got the Mule. Like, if you want tacos, you can...
10:36
There's the new... I forget the name of the place,
10:38
but it's right across the street from us. There's
10:40
taco places all throughout. Matcha. Yes. Whoa,
10:44
now it can't come out of my tongue. Laka charlaka?
10:47
Yes. Ish. Something like that. Something like
10:50
that. Something like that, but it's not. Don't
10:52
quote me on that. But, you know, that's the great
10:54
thing about downtown is you can go for Korean,
10:57
you can go for Mexican, you can go for Filipino,
10:59
you can go for Vietnamese, you can go for Italian,
11:02
you can go for fine dining, you can go for street
11:04
food. Like, there is so much variety, and that's
11:07
what I really love about downtown. For me personally,
11:09
like, downtown London has very... like shown
11:12
what multicultural london really is yes it's
11:16
not a lot of franchises in the downtown core
11:18
it's a lot of like the mom and pops like i look
11:21
at church key garlics tasting room winks molly
11:26
blooms like all these other places like i know
11:28
molly's is kind of a franchise yeah but like
11:30
they kind of converted that franchise into more
11:33
of a mallard version yeah yeah so a lot of these
11:36
downtown cores show what london has to offer
11:38
and then you add the festivals on top of that
11:40
yeah there's uh you know it's uh it's gonna be
11:43
a crazy summer for downtown london just because
11:45
we we're seeing a lot more festivals this year
11:48
and now with The market's done with their construction
11:51
in the market square. We're going to see more
11:53
happen there. But, you know, you've got, you've
11:55
got, there's the Jerk Festival. There's an Ampanada
11:57
Festival. There's a Pumusa Festival. Junina.
12:01
I probably mentioned the Taco Festival already.
12:04
There's a Beer Festival. Okay. Yep. Like Home
12:07
County Festival. Two days of that. Rocks at the
12:09
Park. Like there's not just food. There's great
12:12
music. There's great multicultural events that
12:15
really showcase. how cultural London is. So true.
12:19
So true. Yeah. So I saw the, the fest. Yep. And
12:24
it bring back Gus Mack. That is a must. That
12:27
is a must. I talked about, we need to bring that
12:29
back in some capacity. Gus Mack was huge. And
12:32
that, I know this is before your time. This is
12:35
before, because you're not from London, right?
12:37
No. Yeah. Oh, yes, yes, yes. So it was, there
12:39
was, there was scooping up in Gus Mack. Yeah.
12:42
Gus Mack was at Victoria Park. Yeah. And many
12:45
courts to run through basketball. And then Hoop
12:48
It Up was at Western Fair. And those are great,
12:51
like, for the kids, especially, like, you finish
12:53
the school year, and then next thing you know,
12:55
you're in a tournament. So, like, that was cool.
12:57
But, like, we need to bring that back. Do you
13:00
want to take this offline and chat about it?
13:02
We can talk. We can talk. We can talk. I like
13:04
this. I like this. Soccer too, FIFA. You know,
13:07
that's going to be big this summer, right? Is
13:09
there anything that you guys are doing? So there's
13:11
a community celebration that's coming to London.
13:13
We're one of a handful of spots throughout Canada.
13:16
And so on July 4th, Victoria Park, there's going
13:18
to be a big FIFA celebration happening downtown.
13:20
Sweet. Damn. And of course, you know, FIFA is
13:24
going to be taking over all the restaurants and
13:26
pubs too. Till four o 'clock in the morning.
13:28
Thanks Doug Ford for that. Four o 'clock in the
13:31
morning. You know, there are some that are very
13:34
into it and want to do it because, you know,
13:37
that is, that is, that is their clientele. You
13:41
know, and that's the thing, right? And that's
13:46
the thing is that it's up to the establishment,
13:48
you know, but we will see like there's a Frankenfurters
13:51
and Winks, I believe have both said that they're
13:53
extending their time. I can definitely see Adam
13:55
Winkler doing that and being like, you know what?
13:58
4am. Yeah. But it's probably going to get back.
14:01
Yeah. Next thing you know, he'll just do 24 hours
14:04
and then serve breakfast. Knowing him. They do.
14:06
They do. Tuesday nights, half -rice nachos and
14:09
rock and roll bingo. Oh, my God. It's a good
14:12
time. Oh, my God. Yes, yes. So, can we just do
14:15
food episode, guys? We could just, like, jump
14:18
from... I know the first... I know the first
14:21
place we would do an episode, though, and it's
14:23
because you have never experienced it, and I'm
14:26
hurting. Every single time I talk to someone,
14:28
they haven't experienced it. And you both haven't
14:31
experienced it. It's Hell's Craft Burger. It's
14:33
the best burger in the city. And I challenge
14:36
y 'all to find me a better place. Other than
14:39
Craft Pharmacy. Other than this place. No, no,
14:43
no, no. That's what it comes down to. Did you
14:46
guys do the United Way Burger Battle last summer?
14:48
Did you have a look at that? So, yes. Yes. It
14:52
was funny how that actually worked. Did you guys
14:55
put that on? No. So United Way puts it on. We
14:58
just promoted the downtown restaurants that were
15:00
taking part of it. Okay. Same thing like with
15:02
Londonlicious. Londonlicious is across the city,
15:04
the whole city. We just helped promote downtown.
15:06
I would love to talk to the person about Londonlicious,
15:09
but that's a different story. No, the United
15:11
Way one was great because that's how I got my
15:13
wife to try the Kraft Farm or the Kau's Kraft
15:16
Burger. Okay. Because we were at Bungalow. Yep.
15:19
And then they're like, well, here's our entry
15:21
for the burger. And I looked at it. I was like.
15:24
your entries wasn't what I wanted. And I was
15:27
just like, Housecraft Burger. I was like, do
15:29
you want to participate in this contest? And
15:31
my wife's like, yeah, sure. I was like, we're
15:33
leaving. And we went to Housecraft Burger. She
15:35
got a burger there. And she said the exact same
15:38
thing. It's one of London's hidden gems that
15:41
people don't know about. And it's, I'm sorry,
15:43
it's a pink house. Yeah, it's so small. Yeah,
15:47
yeah. So I know this isn't supposed to be like
15:50
a food episode, but like. It's going to be a
15:53
food episode now. So downtown, obviously, you
15:56
all drive past that place. It's like the big
15:59
house all the time. What kind of things do you
16:02
guys do to get people going? Yeah, so one of
16:06
the things that I talked about was the Shop Downtown
16:07
program. Another thing is our trail program.
16:10
So we do about four to five different trails
16:12
a year. For this year, earlier this year, we
16:15
did a wellness trail in the beginning of the
16:16
year because, you know, new year, new me. And
16:18
that featured, you know, a lot of wellness. So
16:20
it was like... Massage therapy, physiotherapists,
16:23
psychologists, but also eating healthy too. So
16:26
restaurants and places like the Green Window
16:29
that really cater to the healthiness. And so
16:31
what the trail program is, is it's really a self
16:34
-guided tour where you get to go visit these
16:36
places on your own. Then you use a website -based
16:40
app to check in. It's all geolocation, so it
16:43
knows when you're at that place. You check in.
16:45
you get points for that check -in. After you
16:47
received enough points, you can redeem those
16:49
points for prizes. And a lot of the prizes are
16:52
downtown dollar gift cards, which are used at
16:54
over 200 different locations. And so like right
16:57
now we have the patio trail. Downtown is great
17:00
for patios. You know, there's Barney's, there's
17:03
the Mule, which was the top patio of last year
17:07
in Canada. Was it actually? Yeah. They're like
17:10
courtyard patio. There's the rooftop patios.
17:13
Like don't even get like we need more rooftop
17:15
patios in London. Yeah, I agree. So what our
17:18
trail does is it introduces you to all the patios
17:21
that are downtown. So not all of them, but the
17:23
participating ones. There's 35 feet of checkout.
17:26
So you go to these patios, you check in, you
17:28
get points. Then you redeem those points for
17:31
gift cards and also swag. Things like the T -shirt
17:34
I'm currently wearing. But we also have key chains
17:37
and bags and other. gift cards that we're looking
17:40
at including as well for other restaurants and
17:42
things like that. And so this is an opportunity
17:44
for you to go out and explore. And it's not like
17:47
we're giving you two weeks. You have until the
17:49
end of August to go and explore the Pandas. It
17:51
takes a minute. Yeah. We want you to go sit,
17:56
enjoy, take in the sun, have some drinks, have
17:58
some food. Because I mean, with things like that,
18:01
you know, it's always going to be the people
18:02
that try and gain the system. Going there, it's
18:06
like a... Pokemon Go, whatever. But you'll have
18:11
the people that are like, oh, no, let's just
18:13
take the whole list and just check one at a time.
18:16
Every few weeks we'll go to a patio. Exactly.
18:19
Exactly. And, you know, it's a great opportunity
18:21
to check out and look at the list and be like,
18:24
oh, I didn't know this place had a patio or I
18:26
didn't know about this place. Then at the end
18:28
of June, we're doing the Sweet Treat Trail. So
18:32
we're talking cookies. We're talking ice cream.
18:34
We're talking. Bubble tea. We're talking bakeries.
18:37
We're talking patisseries. We're talking anything,
18:39
anything that's sweet. You know, you're going
18:41
into black walnut. You go in for that. What is
18:43
it? The crescent? The donut? The donut, you know?
18:46
This is like a food episode right now. Man, my
18:48
mouth is watering. Yep. Yep. Exactly. And it
18:52
works on the same basis where, you know, it's
18:54
self -guided. You get to check it out at your
18:56
own time and leisure. But then we also give you
18:59
gift cards so that you can go back to these positions.
19:02
You know? Kind of check out everything. go to
19:05
go back to the ones that you wanted to or even
19:07
check out other new ones on the next trail yeah
19:10
yeah yeah we will usually do a grand prize too
19:13
and i know for the patio trail you can get a
19:15
250 gift card that's our big big prize at the
19:18
end of it so that's right yeah it's cool you
19:21
can just see like seeing that list of patios
19:24
it's like the amount of times where you're like
19:26
oh let's let's go to a party let's go get a sweet
19:28
let's go get a burger yeah like just be going
19:32
i'm working for places in london It's just the
19:35
same, same spot because they have the best SEO.
19:38
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't notice all these
19:41
little, little things. The one thing for me that
19:45
I've noticed, though, is that there's people
19:47
like you who will Google things, but word of
19:50
mouth travels a lot faster. And if more people
19:52
have that experience and then being able to,
19:55
like, you wouldn't have known about Craft House
19:57
Burger because it may not show up in your SEOs.
19:59
But I'm telling you, the best burger in the city
20:02
is... I need to get a contract with Scott Berg
20:04
at this rate. You know, let's have a meeting
20:07
with them tomorrow. Sponsorship dollars. Let's
20:09
get this. But like, I believe that people who
20:13
Google things are missing out on a lot of hidden
20:16
gems. And like having programs like you, like
20:19
you guys that you guys do with the trail exposes
20:21
the ones that are not technology savvy, in my
20:25
opinion. There's a lot more out there. There
20:29
is. And the other thing to think about too, is
20:31
that there's a lot of businesses that have long
20:34
staying power that have been downtown. One of
20:36
the biggest things on our social media that we
20:39
do to promote, we do grand openings, but we also
20:42
do anniversaries. And people love both of those
20:44
because they love seeing what's new, but they
20:46
also love to see what's been, what's stayed.
20:48
And, you know, just this week we were at Addicted
20:52
Tattoo. They've been downtown for 30 years. We
20:55
just went to a studio age artist group, which
20:58
is. Hair, barbershop, things like that. They've
21:01
been in their spot for 20 years. You've got David
21:03
E. White's, the menswear, five years. You've
21:07
got places that have been downtown since downtown
21:09
started, really. It's really cool to see the
21:13
legacy that these places have lost. Now, in your
21:16
position, have you noticed in this last year
21:19
the economy hit everybody? Has there been a decline
21:23
in people coming downtown or even just... interacting
21:27
on your social media because they don't want
21:29
to. Yeah, no, you know what, you know, there
21:31
is there's a decline. But what that is causing
21:33
people to do is it's causing people to be more
21:35
choosy with their dollar, you know, and so that's
21:37
why we're here to promote those businesses. We're
21:41
here to shine a spotlight on them, show people
21:43
why they should be going to X restaurant or Y
21:46
restaurant or even like this retail place or
21:49
this hair salon or bookshop or massage therapy.
21:53
You know, there's there's so many different businesses
21:55
downtown. And, you know, people are being choosy,
21:58
but, you know, they're making the right choice.
22:00
And you know what? We aren't seeing such a bad
22:02
of a decline. We're waiting for a few numbers
22:04
to come in right now. But, you know, overall,
22:07
downtown has been quite steady with with with
22:09
its growth. It's good. That's good. And then
22:12
the other thing that I've noticed is people have
22:15
been a little bit more choosy. People love to
22:17
give back charity. Yeah. And I know this week
22:20
coming up, we have. Rocket IMS. And I heard that
22:23
you guys did a huge donation towards that. Yeah,
22:26
so we are a sponsor of them. I think we've been
22:29
a sponsor almost every year for it. And we also
22:32
help promote them as well. And, you know, we
22:34
love charity events. We love giving out downtown
22:38
dollar gift cards for silent auction items, for
22:40
prizes, things like that as well. And it's pretty
22:42
easy to, all you have to do is contact us. Tell
22:45
us about your event. If you're hosting your event
22:48
downtown, we want to promote it. We want to see
22:50
your event succeed. Fair. Fair. It's nice that
22:54
you guys like actually get involved with that
22:56
good thing. And you're like, you want it. If
22:58
it's not even that people reach out and you're
22:59
like, no, no, no, please reach out. Oh, I spend
23:02
a lot of time. I have, I have this. So there's
23:05
three people in my department. One of them does
23:07
social media. The other one does our website
23:09
and our design. And then there's myself. I spend
23:11
a lot of time on social media, just finding.
23:14
New businesses, but also like seeing what events
23:17
are taking place, what charity things are going
23:19
on so that I can message them and be like, hey,
23:22
did you know we have this program or we can promote
23:25
your event or we can promote your business? All
23:28
we do is ask them to just reach out to us. And
23:30
like one of the easiest things that we tell people
23:33
is just tag us. Tag us on your social media.
23:35
We're at Downtown London. We see it. There's
23:38
so many eyes that watch our social media feeds,
23:41
so we see every tag. And if it's applicable to
23:43
downtown, if you're a business downtown, you're
23:45
an event downtown, we will share it out. That's
23:48
huge. Good to know. Good to know. Yeah. We would
23:50
love to go downtown and let's do a road trip.
23:52
I'm down. Get it set up. We'll block the street.
23:55
Yeah. Yeah. Let's just put some construction
23:59
codes out. Like, oh, they're going to do a destruction.
24:02
It's just London. At this rate, we need to get
24:04
you guys a t -shirt that shows all the construction
24:06
in downtown London so people can avoid it. There's
24:09
actually a lot less this year. Actually, downtown
24:12
London. Yeah, you're right. You also have to
24:14
look at it, too, is that it's creating for future
24:17
projects so that, you know, they're expanding
24:20
the sewer. I know people don't love talking about
24:22
this, but they're expanding the sewer so that,
24:25
you know, 70 ,000 more people can live downtown.
24:28
Yes. Because they see the growth. We've seen
24:30
all the buildings that have been coming up. And,
24:32
you know, there's more people choosing to live
24:34
downtown. Being born and raised in London, remembering
24:36
what it used to look like downtown to what it
24:38
is now, it's literally day and night. And, like,
24:41
there's a lot. I grew up in Hyde Park. There
24:44
was a cornfield behind me. And now there's...
24:47
Like, all of that between, like, Hyde Park and
24:51
Baldersboro, like, everything back there wasn't
24:55
there. Yeah, true, true. And then, obviously,
24:57
we got the London Knights and we got the London
24:58
Majors. Yep. are two great draws to young people
25:01
downtown. Are you working with both of them?
25:04
Yeah, so we did a lot with the London Knights
25:06
this past year where we came in as a sponsor
25:09
so that we were able to take some of their digital
25:12
assets to showcase downtown. So if you're at
25:15
a game, you might have saw us on the 360, saw
25:18
some things to entice you to go and check out
25:21
other things happening downtown. We also worked
25:23
with another company called Anthem that created
25:26
a playoff app for the Knights this year. And
25:28
so... We worked with them to put a lot of downtown
25:32
London prizing so that we had like gift cards
25:35
from like Winx and Early Bird and Fitzrays. And
25:39
we had London Chiropractic throw in a few different
25:42
things. And so through the app, you're able to
25:45
guess how many points were going to be scored,
25:48
how many shots on goal. Oh, that was it? Yeah.
25:51
Okay. Yeah. And so through that, we helped sponsor
25:55
that and get some prizes out there. So we had
25:57
quite a few people win prizes and got a chance
26:00
to enjoy downtown. That's amazing. Yeah. And
26:03
then last, last year we worked with the city
26:08
and Dundas place on the night's courts, the outdoor
26:11
viewing that we had for the playoffs, which was
26:13
super fun. Like it's always great to have people
26:15
come out. So if we ever really wanted to put
26:19
up like a contest or whatever, could we contact
26:22
you and then potentially? Yeah, we'd love to
26:25
help you guys out. Okay. Okay. I have a lot of
26:27
ideas. You know, I know United Way had their
26:30
own burger competition. You know, it might be
26:33
nice to have another one. You know what? They're
26:34
the summer burger. Maybe we look at the winter
26:36
burger. That's what I'm talking about. You know,
26:37
get some peppermints and different flavors in
26:40
there. I'm just saying. Yeah. Tons of opportunities.
26:43
So many different options. If everyone just has
26:47
one burger that they're mentoring, maybe they're
26:51
like, Bob, they beat us with this style. Maybe
26:54
we'll do that next time. I'll just constantly
26:57
do it more often. Yeah. Well, you know, there's
27:00
a ton of ingredients out there. And you know
27:02
what? I'm not scared. If you're going to throw
27:03
peanut butter on a burger, it better be good.
27:05
Hey, at one time, I used to be against that.
27:10
That seems like a normal topic. Yeah. Right?
27:12
Yeah. You want to throw in some crunchy chili
27:15
oil? Let's do it. What was the restaurant that
27:18
did the first one in London? Prince Al's. Prince
27:21
Al's had the famous peanut butter burger. It
27:24
was to die for. Obviously, it's not around anymore,
27:27
and I wish it would come back, but... Oh, my
27:30
God. Yeah. Man, we're going to have to do a...
27:36
Yeah, it's a Mexican house now. So we're definitely
27:41
gonna have to do another episode at a food establishment
27:44
with you. Yeah, please. But it's on downtown
27:49
London. Obviously Clubhouse is another great
27:53
location. We've done amazing work here at 100
27:56
Kellogg, providing, putting together so many
27:59
different things all under one roof. It's true.
28:01
The other thing is like, it kind of expands downtown
28:04
London. We're not that far from downtown London,
28:07
right? We're just a bus ride away. Your range
28:10
might have to expand a little bit more, though.
28:12
Because downtown London used to be Adelaide and
28:16
Dundas. And then it kind of shifted over there.
28:19
There is another business site, I'm assuming,
28:22
over here. Yes, yes. There's Old East Village.
28:25
Yes. I'm just saying, we're okay with you guys
28:28
expanding a little more. Hey, we don't need no
28:33
Kanye or no Drake and Kendrick battle. Next year,
28:37
you know. You're dropping an album, talking about
28:40
downtown London. Probably a mixtape, you know.
28:42
I don't know if I got the full album. You heard
28:45
it here first. Mixtape coming. No, no. We love
28:52
all the different areas of London. We find that,
28:54
you know, each has their thing, and we're all
28:58
here to create a great destination of London,
29:02
you know. Since you're the art of London. Yes.
29:06
More people come here than more of those just
29:08
drawn into the city. And then obviously if people
29:12
are like, there's all these cool things, let's
29:14
explore the rest of London. Exactly. Right. And
29:17
you know, we have great partners like Tourism
29:20
London that does a great job of promoting the
29:22
entire city. And you know, they, they really
29:25
look at all the different events that happen
29:27
throughout the city and they're a great partner
29:29
with us for downtown events, but they also, you
29:31
know, push people to all areas of London. All
29:34
just depends on what's going on. And, you know,
29:36
there's tons of great stuff happening all throughout
29:38
the city. And we love getting out and exploring
29:41
our own city. Like, it's so great just to have
29:43
a little staycation. You know, you can stay here
29:45
at the Hard Rock Hotel and get out and explore.
29:48
All these posters that we used to have. I feel
29:54
like it was so on your organization. They would
29:57
just go into all the business posters of just
29:59
all of the different events happening. Yeah,
30:01
we still do that to this day. You do it every
30:04
month, right? Every month, what we do is we ask
30:07
people to submit their events to us, but then
30:09
we also take a couple days out of our schedule
30:11
to go and look for those events. We scour websites,
30:15
we scour social media, we talk to people, and
30:17
we try to create the most definitive list of
30:20
all the events that are happening through downtown.
30:22
We put that out each month. Not only do we do
30:25
it digitally through our website and through
30:27
social media, but we also print copies. Canada
30:31
Post deliver them, but we also have a team at
30:34
our office that goes to businesses. You'll find
30:37
them at Museum London. You'll find them at the
30:39
hotels. You'll find them at the market. You'll
30:41
find them throughout the city. They're really
30:43
a great guide on showcasing what's through downtown.
30:47
Yes, they're brief. It's what the event is, where
30:50
it is, if there's a cost, the timing. But then
30:53
that gives you the idea of, this sounds neat.
30:56
You Google, you Instagram it. Now you know exactly
30:59
what's happening. It's doing like all the information.
31:01
It's like writing your fingertips. But you're
31:04
not going to look it up if you don't know it
31:07
exists. And one thing that's really great about
31:09
downtown London, especially when it comes to
31:12
festival season, it's very accessible because
31:14
most of the events are free. Yes. Are free. You
31:17
have Sunfest. You have... probably the biggest
31:20
international music festival in london and it's
31:23
free yes you can make a donation to help continue
31:27
on as it as it goes on but it's free it's open
31:30
to everybody it's actually crazy these like some
31:33
of the people though they get coming to us like
31:36
being from here sometimes you don't think as
31:39
much about the artists but then you like look
31:41
at all the international ones but actually they're
31:43
like a number one artist in the countries that
31:46
they're coming down Cool. Yeah. Like, I've talked
31:50
to some of the organizers about it, man. And
31:53
they literally go out to all these different
31:55
countries and check out all these different bands
31:58
and bring everybody here. So, like, when people
32:01
go to these events, like, oh, yeah, they just,
32:03
like, took anybody in. No. No, it's curated.
32:06
It is a list. You know? Yeah. And, you know,
32:10
they got the London Music Office involved, too,
32:12
because, you know, we're the UNESCO City of Music.
32:14
And there's going to be some local bands at Sunfest,
32:17
too, this year. That's amazing. It's going to
32:18
be great. Damn. Well, I know where I'm going
32:21
with this. Sunfall is soon, right? Yes, it is
32:24
in July. It's not July yet. I know, it's not
32:28
July now. It's not Canada Day. It's not Canada
32:31
Day yet, but damn. No, honestly, it's crazy to
32:35
see how London has improved so much. And it's
32:37
like, it's people like you who make the city
32:39
better. And I enjoy that. I enjoy it because
32:41
like, everyone is, let's be honest, there is
32:44
a negative aspect of downtown London. that everyone
32:47
talks about, but they never shine light on what
32:49
the positives are in downtown London. It's not
32:52
just Barneys in the summer. A lot of it is just
32:56
being more modern and getting with the times.
33:01
You live there. You have a soul somewhere. I
33:09
don't know. I am also the person that... I live
33:14
four blocks from downtown. So I'm like a block
33:18
from downtown. Yeah, yeah. No, and I get it too.
33:20
You know, we go, especially for tourists and
33:24
people that are not familiar with downtown, you
33:26
get and, you know, you're staged, you're scoped
33:29
in, you're trying to look. So it's like, you're
33:31
like, you know, looking and you're like, where's
33:33
parking? Where's happening? And then you see
33:34
something, you're like, oh, it's parking. You
33:36
get there, it's full. So then you like give up.
33:38
But, you know, there is a lot of parking downtown.
33:41
There's a lot of parking garages. There's underground
33:44
parking. You know, one of the things that I like
33:46
to tell people, I'm like, you know, the big Renaissance
33:48
apartment building right across from Canada Life
33:50
Place. And everyone's like, yeah. I'm like, did
33:52
you know that there's public parking there? They're
33:54
like, that first like five floors of that building,
33:58
that's a parking garage. Yeah. You can just drive
34:00
in on the side off of. Ride out, go on in, and
34:04
there's your parking. But because it's inside
34:06
of a building, people don't see it. It doesn't
34:08
look like a parking lot. And there's a lot of
34:11
lots. And there's also free parking on the streets
34:14
using CORE, the code CORE, versus the Honk app.
34:18
You get two hours free parking every day. And
34:20
it's on street parking. So there's options. I'm
34:23
just saying, if downtown London had an app that
34:26
was just, it was the logo, and you pressed it,
34:29
and then you get your parking there. And then
34:31
your event, game changer. That's half your marketing
34:33
right there. Well, maybe if you wait till the
34:36
fall, you might see something. My mouth is shut.
34:42
Like you mentioned, you mentioned the perspective.
34:45
You mentioned things like that. And, you know,
34:47
we really try to shine the positivity. We try
34:50
to showcase, you know, the small businesses,
34:52
what they're doing, what they're accomplishing.
34:54
You know, there are new places that have opened
34:57
up that have really taken a shine. You look at
34:59
Studio Cafe. Or CEO Cafe. I don't know if you
35:01
guys have been there yet. It's a new coffee shop
35:03
right on Dundas. They do events every single
35:06
day. Do they actually? They do. Their event calendar
35:09
is so full. You can go in there and it's a collage
35:12
night. The next time you go in there, there's
35:14
a DJ playing. You go there on Saturday, boom,
35:17
you're in a run club. Like, they have so many
35:20
different things that take place at this cafe.
35:22
Damn. They're there, they consider themselves
35:25
an artist space. And so they do a lot. And so
35:29
it's a really cool place to check out. You know,
35:31
it's things like that, that we try to shine a
35:33
light on to show people that there is amazing
35:36
things happening downtown. To a certain extent,
35:38
everyone sees all like the negativity in just
35:43
the world in general. And you actually start
35:46
focusing on stuff. And then once you start doing
35:49
that, Your feed will become infected with all
35:52
positive things. All of a sudden you'll just
35:54
be a happy person. Going downtown to these events
35:58
all the time. This business has been around for
36:02
25 years. I remember going to that place. They
36:05
just had their third anniversary. You start seeing
36:09
those things. Exactly. You see people. Well,
36:16
if you. Keep on going downtown. You're going
36:18
to miss a great restaurant called David's Bistro.
36:21
I switched it on you. I switched it on you. I
36:23
was just about, is it going to go there? But,
36:26
like, London has so much to offer. Downtown London
36:30
is home to world -class entertainment. Yes. You
36:34
want to look at the Grand Theatre. They bring
36:36
in some of the best shows. You look at Canada
36:38
Life Place. Like, I remember it was a couple
36:41
years ago when they had Zach Bryan. It was, like,
36:45
his only Canadian stop. was here in London, you
36:48
know, and that was a 360 show. So there was like
36:51
10 ,000 people in that arena, all just watching
36:55
the man do his job. You know, there's, you know,
36:58
London Music Hall, there's Centennial Hall, there's
37:01
the Wolf Performance Hall at the library. Like
37:04
there's all these really cool places. And you
37:06
know what? It may not be a big name that you
37:08
and I know, but to someone else, it's their world.
37:11
It's a huge artist in their mind. And honestly,
37:14
you can go. to at least four or five events every
37:19
night if you put your mind to it. It's true.
37:20
There's so much going on. It's true. And like
37:22
the renovation at the London Music Hall puts
37:25
so much pressure on Canada Life Place. Go ahead.
37:28
Go ahead. Call it what you want to call it. Okay.
37:30
For me, it's a JLC. John Labatt Center. I worked
37:34
there. It was a JLC. It makes it very hard to
37:37
keep changing it because then when you worked
37:39
there, it was Budweiser Gardens. And now it's
37:42
Canada Life Place. JLC sounded so great. Yeah.
37:46
I miss those. Just go back, please. Go back.
37:50
CLP. CLP. No, JLC. Just rolls out of the tongue.
37:54
Or, no, I didn't like it when you were there.
37:56
I will say, though, one of the cool things with
37:57
that name when it was Budweiser Gardens is that
38:00
when we had WWE, was it WWE? Was it WWE or AEW?
38:07
AEW. When we had AW, not this last show, but
38:10
the show previous. Yeah. The top guy took a picture
38:14
of the inside of the arena and he wrote, my favorite
38:17
garden is the beer garden. And we're like, thank
38:20
you. Hey, they said they're coming back every
38:22
year now. So yeah. Yeah. And now WWE is coming
38:26
down this year too in the summer as well. Yep.
38:29
So wrestling is getting bigger. I'm telling you.
38:32
Hey, women have their live reality TV shows.
38:36
There's nothing wrong with a little bit of reality
38:38
TV show in WWE. It's more entertainment than
38:42
wrestling. It's just, it's a so popular that
38:44
people hit each other with chairs. It's what
38:46
we're all thinking. I'm just saying. Yeah. Well,
38:50
thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks
38:52
for having me in guys. I really appreciate the
38:54
opportunity to talk about the community that
38:57
we live in, especially the downtown aspect. Yeah,
39:00
I mean, I'm going to do my plug here. If anyone's
39:03
interested in learning any about our programs,
39:05
things like that, we're at Downtown London on
39:08
Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or just visit exploredowntownlondon
39:13
.ca. Got all your information right there. Perfect.
39:16
Love it. Thank you. Now we're going to do another
39:18
episode, though. Oh, 100%. We're taking this
39:21
bad boy on the road. We have to. I'm listening.
39:24
Two of you are just going to go head to head.
39:27
listing as many restaurants as you can he might
39:31
be do we just need to know it or what do we have
39:34
to have gone to it well i mean i won't know break
39:38
the receipts man that's tough though you'll win
39:44
i can guarantee you have you have a little inside
39:48
information i know i know but when your office
39:51
when your office is downtown and you've got Places
39:54
like Billy's Deli right across the street. I
39:56
saw that plug. Yeah. Yeah. You know, have you
39:59
seen the sandwiches? No, I've actually never
40:01
been there. I've been to Squire. Yeah, Squire.
40:06
Squire's weird. There's so many mirrors in there.
40:08
It looks way bigger than it actually is. I remember
40:10
the first time I went in there too. I was like,
40:12
oh, let's just like look for a table way back
40:14
there. Then we got, I was like, no, that's, that's
40:17
a mirror. Actually, what we could do is on June
40:20
14th or 15th. We do an episode at JD's due to
40:25
the fact that it did sell. And it would be a
40:27
good nod. Downtown London. Their burger is also
40:31
great. It's not. I'm not sure what's happening,
40:36
but I wish we did that for Zenza. Because Zenza
40:40
pizza was really, really good with the old owners.
40:42
I haven't gone back because I'm very like new
40:45
owners. I don't know if I want to try y 'all.
40:47
I'll give it six months. You get your things
40:49
together. I need to hear about it. Yeah, I need
40:52
to hear from other people. Not social media.
40:54
Other people. You know what I mean? Oh, Zenz
40:57
is great again or whatever. Same with JD's, but
40:59
it would be a nice nod to do a send -off. I think
41:02
that would be great. Yeah. Well, perfect. Yeah,
41:05
thank you. Thank you. Thanks for joining us.
41:07
Appreciate you guys. We'll do this again. Enjoy
41:09
the rest of the show. Cheers.