Told by co-founder Josh himself 10 years later.
So, how did it all start? Back then, we used to throw more or less illegal parties in our town – small gang events, basically. Phase Tester (name changed), Fühüftfü (name changed) and I were there, along with a few others. First it was small parties, then later we moved to an old building where we held our events. Gradually, we got more and more equipment – sound system, cooking stuff, everything we needed to party.
And it was during this time that Fühüftfü and I flew to Fuerteventura to go surfing. But the thing was: the waves were really bad. So we hung out in the VW Caddy, smoked joints and philosophized about what our dream project could look like. The idea: use Fühüftfü dad’s bread to make awesome sandwiches, hold live concerts and events in the basement, have a café upstairs and a hostel above that – because there was no hostel in Innsbruck, but we really wanted one. We scribbled that down on a little piece of paper in our notebook. That’s exactly how Montagu was born later on.
Back in Innsbruck, Hanne tells us that there’s a place available at Höttinger Gasse 7–9. I knew the place – the old Lounge 69 (a swinger club), where I had my first job interview for an European Soccer Championsship bar when I was 20. So I’m immediately hooked. We met Betti (name changed), our landlord, took a look at the place and decided: we’re doing it! The problem: zero catering experience. But that’s okay. We brought some reinforcements on board: Stephano, Schimmona, Doorni and phase tester (all names changed). Everyone had something to offer, everyone was up for it.
Then we did a trial run: a month together in Panama. The idea was that if we survived that, we could open a bar together. It worked. Then we went back to Innsbruck, each with 1,500 euros in start-up capital. Half went towards the deposit, and we somehow built the bar with the rest. No dishwasher, no ice cube machine, hardly any chairs. Kitchen from bulky waste. Equipment from old event days. And off we went – as a ‘bar without a name’. Instead of a name: six hieroglyphics, untippable, impossible to find on Facebook or maps. Until we decided: we’ll call it John Montagu. The guy who invented the sandwich because he wanted to play cards without getting his hands dirty. Perfect. That was in 2016.
Then the place took off. Full every day, fines flying in, penalties galore – open too long, too loud, too wild. We had to shut everything down, make it legal, but we did it. At the same time, the tenants upstairs moved out because they didn’t like the bar. So we took over apartment after apartment, signed leases, turned them into shared flats. In the end, we had seven crazy shared flats of our friends above us.
Sure, endless stress, loudspeaker blasting music out of the windows, the officials always in our backs. Wild times.
Then, at the end of 2018, the cut: everyone out of the first house, we start building the hostel. All done ourselves – 30 beds, with our own hands. Finished in October 2019 – openend with a bang of a party. Two months later, water damage. One weekend later: Corona. Two and a half years of standstill.
But we are Montagu. Courageous, crazy, always moving forward. So we used the time during the pandemic to convert house no. 9, adding another 30 beds. Without money, but with the support of an incredible number of wonderful people. More and more crew joined us: hostel managers, bar managers, chefs, carpenters, entire teams who made it all happen.
And today? Now Montagu is what we sketched out on that piece of paper in the VW Caddy on Fuerteventura. A bar, a hostel, a place for culture, for locals and tourists, a place where you can just arrive and feel at home – no matter what kind of music you like, no matter what kind of person you are.
I myself am now the last original member, who, at the age of 36 in 2025, will hand over the management to the next generation. The new generation that will continue what we started. And yes, that’s Montagu. That’s Monti. A cultural venue, a home, a story that goes on and on.
And all the crazy details? You’ll only get those when you sit down at our bar and we tell you the stories over a drink.
