It is considered a singular feat for a restaurant to survive just five years in this city. But to live to 30 is almost unheard of these days.

No surprise, then, that the Monkland Tavern is tossing a party for itself and its fans on Sunday to mark this milestone.

When this N.D.G. favourite — born out of the old-school tavern that stood there for generations — opened in 1995, the Monkland Village did not remotely resemble the shopping-and-resto haven it has become today. Its name and its original outdoor signage have remained the same, a tribute of sorts to the tavern it was, a once-male bastion for brew guzzlers to chew the fat and gobble up the Habs on the tube — but where women and children were verboten.

Mercifully, times have long since changed, but because of its liquor licence, which the new owners inherited, kids are still not allowed inside — although they are permitted on its terrasse (open May to October).

The current iteration of the Monkland Tavern was started by nine investors — including Tavern on the Square co-founders Stephen Leslie and Don Lovell — but now the number has been whittled down to just two proprietors: the dynamic duo of Barbara Irwin, who has been there since Day 1, and chef Josh Crowe, who has been a presence behind........

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