My days of bar hopping are long past. The five and a half years of rural life which wrapped up a year ago did its best to kill the habit geographically as did the advent of kids. There are, however, things that are habits and things that are personality traits and I think that the architecture of bars will always interest me. One class could be called the hard little place, that is not a sports bar, not a pub, not a road house. It might be a neighbourhood bar if you didn't like the neighbours. The old Victory Lounge, formerly in the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia, or The Green Dory in the Halifax Shopping Centre come to mind as examples as does The Hillsborough Hotel (aka "the hug and slug") in Pembroke, Ontario. I may, with such an introduction, be slandering the Royal Tavern on Princess street on one particularly non-gentrified block but the place simply does not invite. I would be interested in being proven wrong.
I thought that the adjective "Royal" was not permitted except with government permission. Indeed, as no doubt you all shouted as one at the screen ust now, look up section 10(1)(a) of Ont. Reg 122/91 which makes implying a connection to the Crown a dodgy matter. Did the Queen Mum put in a good word? Maybe she stopped there once in 1937. Most likely the name is saved by section 12(1) and the grandfathering clause for pre 1991 uses. Glad we cleared that up.
The phoney Dickensian touches on the exterior, like the Ye Oldie font illuminated "Tap Room" sign over the door, are intriguing but you can bet the inside will disappoint, that the only thing on tap might be Labatt Blue. Actually it kind of looks like a location for a meeting of toughs on Canada's first coroner TV drama from the late 60's, Wojeck.
The mock ecclesiastical glass and angled door, detailed below, are interesting but somewhat weird touches. I will have to look again but it appears that to the left of the building there is a filled in carriage arch which would have led to a back stable. There are still a number of these arches around the town. There is one great one in Charlottetown, PEI in a wooden house on one of the streets behind the former The Harp and Thistle.
Later: The carriage way is confirmed and even advertised. Apparently the place is very old on the inside even having cobbled or stone floors.
The other day I went back to get the exterior of the rear and was glad to see that the old limestone and double dormers are still there. At City Hall, there is a framed 1875 business directory map of the downtown which shows the building as having the twin dormers and an enclosed walled space out back. From the view below of the inelegant car park you can see reminants of the old walls to both sides of the property with the capping of the wall to the left apparently still intact. Likely it was for horse barns and other out buildings, it is kind of nice to imagine a walled ale garden circa 1840. Come to think of it, though, it is three dormers I am looking at with the one to the right being over the carriageway. The carriageway now feeds into the lean-to like addition to the right of the picture.
Comments
Ale Fan - March 29, 2004 3:24 AM
If it wasn't for the picture of the barrel on the illumunated sign (through my English eyes)it would look more like a UK Balti house rather than a pub.
Perhaps they sell Kingfisher lager ?
portland - March 29, 2004 9:46 AM
in defense of the victory lounge and the green dory; 1. the food in the dory wasn't bad. that's all that can be said really. that and you could go shopping afterwards i guess. you shouldn't really buy a suit when you're drunk though. take it from me. 2. the victory was a wonderful place to be alone. my memory of it (and, admittedly, my memoey is not good) is that they had this old bartender who wouldn't even talk to you. "what d'you want?" would be his look as you came in and sat down at the bar. "fucking kid," he'd sneer as he poured and went back to whatever was on the televsion. i'm sure that "don't fucking come back," would be his parting shot if ever he did deign to speak to you. on a light snowy night, with people going up and down spring garden road, burdened with parcels, having a couple of drinks alone at the victory was one of the supreme existential experiences to be had in halifax. for a couple of hours you could be john lee hooker, or a wretched character in john cheever story, and then you went back to being the cheesy college kid that you always were.
Alan - March 29, 2004 11:02 AM
But you were and are tougher than me. I bet you went to <i>The Derby</i> once in a while or <i>The Lighthouse</i> at the foot of Barrington. Maybe I was not as much of a wuzz then as I recall noon lunches at <i>The Green Dory</i> when Dad was in town. But I wouldn't go at 10 pm. Another I can think of was <i>The Sly Fox</i> in Spryfield. A guy turned off the TV there with a gun once. Something different than, say, <i>The Lockmaster</i> in Ottawa or <i>The LBR</i> both of which were wino bars but welcoming.
portland - March 29, 2004 11:28 AM
yeah yeah, i'm so tough. and you didn't go to the derby at least three times a week for the double twin steaks? i'm shocked. oh, i cried when it burnt down, the george bellows poster and all. the derby was wonderful. it had this huge clean airport bathroom too, which i could never figure out. the location of the derby may have been a bit dodgey but it was one clean well lit space, a lovely lovely place to drink and eat. but then i didn't go at 10 pm either so..... now, the lighthouse was the opposite. that was hard bitten. the food was bad and the bathrooms were filthy. was it tough? well, i guess so but it was also terribly uninteresting because by nine all the sailors were so incredibly hammered that all there was going on was falling down and throwing up. nobody could fight if they wanted to. remember a couple of blocks up the street (towards SMU), there was a club for ex-pat newfoundlanders? a friend of mine had a place across from there. they fought enough to make up for the whole lighthouse crew. it spilled out into the street nightly. in the end though, the lighthouse was a strip club, one so bad that attending it bordered on attending some sort of racy performace art. in that period it was the most amusing bar in town.
ahhhh memories. now you need to write an essay on the old lafayette. do it justice. what was the place in the north end? it looked like a legion. the king's lock?
Alan - March 29, 2004 12:11 PM
The Chateau Lafayette. I think you need to write that one too as I only went there with you. The night in 1991 or so when you stood on a table to inform the gathered audience that I was willing to take any of them on is a particularly sweet recollection. I recall there being bikers at the nearby tables. By contrast, in the early 1980s, I suppose being 6 foot 4 with other large pals in my my undergrad drinking crowd did not really attract trouble. I think me hauling you off the table mid-tirade was a sign to the bikers that the offer was off.
I recall the Newfie club but, again, avoided it. I am proud to know someone who went to both the Derby and the Lighthouse and guided the fortunes of government all before 35. The Newfie club was near the spot on Inglis where you could get the biggest donairs in Halifax - was it Pete's Pizzaria? Across from Schooner books. Super donair. I just about killed one of the silverorange lads by introducing his gentle PEI guts to a Super donair too late in life.
Alan - March 29, 2004 12:43 PM
Very slim pickings when googling for references to the Royal Tavern...except this one from a use.net forum:<blockquote class="smalltext">I used to live around the corner from Montgomery's Tavern. Booze plays an important role in Canadian history -- when I was at school I often frequented a Kingston dive called the Royal Tavern (aka the Tap Room), formerly owned by noted dipsomaniac Sir John A. Macdonald.</blockquote>
Alan - March 29, 2004 12:48 PM
Now I am getting interested. This passage is from a Queens University site for student orientation to Kingston:<blockquote class="smalltext">One of Canada's oldest outdoor markets is located in the square directly behind City Hall, and enjoyed today much as it was in 1850. You can visit Bellevue House, the home of Sir John A. MacDonald which is now a museum. You can also drop in at the Royal Tap Room, Sir John A. MacDonald's favourite tavern, which operates today much as it did in his day.</blockquote>
portland - March 29, 2004 12:59 PM
peter's pizzaria. their all meat pizza was like four inches thick, about five pounds if you stuffed into a plastic bread bag for either warmth or ease of travel. and if you told them you were bucky, you'd get free breadsticks. pizza in a bag will stay warm for a very long time by the way. snowmobilers take note.
and i never stood on a table. a chair maybe.
Binky - April 16, 2004 9:23 PM
The Royal Tavern is the best place in Kingston to enjoy a nice cold beer.
Trust me I've had drinks in pretty much every bar in town.
Alan - April 16, 2004 11:43 PM
Thanks Binky - I have a dream and it includes a nice cold beer at the Royal Tavern.