Jakes reopens in style, with ‘Dougie’ centre stage
Published:Wednesday | December 31, 2025 | 12:09 AMPaul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer
As the music pumped, patrons at Dougie’s Bar at Jakes Treasure Beach, Calabash Bay, St Elizabeth mingled and smiled. Happy faces were everywhere. Then, in a voice as joyful as joyful gets, someone shouted: “Dougie! Dougie! Dougie!”
All eyes turned to see the source of such exuberance. It was Jason Henzell, one of Jakes’ operators. He moved towards a tall, slim, elderly man, embracing him with vigour. After much fuss over a glowing Dougie, the crowd returned to dancing and chatter.
The occasion was Jakes’ reopening party on December 20, seven weeks after a Category 5 hurricane had significantly damaged parts of the property and its sister business, Jack Sprat, nearby. Jack Sprat reopened on November 11.
Electricity recently returned to Treasure Beach via a JPS mobile generator. Yet, on reopening night, the power failed before the party hit its stride. Spirits, however, were undampened, and photo-ops at Dougie’s Bar continued as the Henzell family, friends, associates and guests gathered to celebrate.
Born Douglas Turner in Mandeville, Manchester, he worked part-time from age 15 for Jason’s grandfather, Basil Densham, on his dairy farm, later becoming full-time. He also assisted Jason’s grandmother, Joyce Densham, in her garden in Greenvale, where they consistently won prizes at the Manchester Flower Show, Henzell told The Gleaner.
Decades later, when Henzell’s mother Sally launched Jakes as a restaurant and bar, she sought out Dougie, believing he had the perfect personality to run the seaside bar.
“She was right, as both locals and visitors from overseas instantly fell in love with Dougie’s wit and charm,” Henzell said. “Over the years, many guests would boast about their close relationship with Dougie and how many beers they shared together.
“Dougie would often tease that he was more popular than I was. When new guests asked him for Jakes, he told them that he was, which meant he had both sets of fan club members, known today in the social media world as ‘followers’.”
Turner was eventually promoted to maître d’. When he turned 70, Jakes threw “a huge birthday party that attracted this fan club from all corners of the world”, Henzell recalled.
“To my surprise, a few weeks later his five sons said they thought it was time for him to retire and spend more time with his expanded family, now including several grandchildren. Over the years, I had met many of these sons in New York when we did annual fundraisers for BREDS [Treasure Beach Foundation].
“Dougie has played such a significant role at Jakes that it was obvious we had to name the bar in his honour. It gives us great pleasure to get visits from Dougie on our annual Jakes anniversary on March 7, reopening parties, Christmas and his birthday. Dougie is indeed a legend and our banter and teasing are alive and well.” Reflecting on Jakes’ reopening after Melissa, Henzell said: “We are absolutely delighted by the turnout and goodwill generated from reopening Jakes last weekend. Apart from persons making the effort to come out for the weekend, we have been receiving messages and new bookings, which is so encouraging.
“The decision to reopen wasn’t exactly an easy one because while we had full confidence that we would get Jakes and Treasure Beach looking beautiful within seven weeks, I was conscious of visitors having to drive through several areas along the coast that had far worse damage, especially Black River.
“I was concerned that some guests may have arrived feeling a sense of trauma and/or guilt, but, when the first paying guest arrived and I asked him to describe in one word how he felt, his response was ‘hope’, and immediately I knew we made the right decision. We are extremely grateful to the Jakes family who worked tirelessly to make our reopening target a reality and to the guests who did not ask for refunds, and to those who bought our paying-it-forward gift cards.”
Among those spotted at the reopening were former West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle; Floyd Green, member of parliament for South West St Elizabeth and minister of agriculture, fisheries and mining; and dancehall artiste Protoje. But the biggest celebrity of the night was Dougie himself, after whom the bar is named.