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After 30 years in business, Maxwell’s, the nightclub and eatery on Elgin Street, is closing and will be replaced by two new “exciting” restaurants — including a popular Westboro vegetarian spot.

Photo by Drake Fenton / Ottawa Citizen

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In a message posted to its window and also on Facebook, the downtown restaurant-bar announced its last day would be Jan. 17, and extended its “heartfelt appreciation” for customers’ “years of patronage.”

“A lot of regulars are really sad to see us close after so many years,” said the restaurant’s owner, Patrick Cheang, in an interview with the Citizen. “But it’s outlived its course on Elgin Street as Maxwell’s, and it’s time for a dramatic change.”

That change will see the top half of the two-level establishment transformed into an “edgy, yet sophisticated” new bar, while trendy vegetarian and vegan joint Pure Kitchen on Richmond Road in Westboro has plans to open a second location in the bottom half. Cheang, who will retain ownership of the upper-level bar only, said he hopes to attract a different, more hip 25- to 45-year-old demographic with the switch.