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Drinks flowed for the last time at Imperial Pub on Saturday as patrons past and present stopped by for a final drink. The iconic Toronto bar is closing its doors after 81 years of history at its location near Sankofa Square.
Toronto Metropolitan University bought the land on which the pub is located and plans to build a new student residence building on the location.
TMU students are a large part of the pub’s clientele and many, like Jade DeLuca-Ahooja and Luke Mathews, are sad to see it go.
“I think it’s such a shame,” DeLuca-Ahooja told CBC Toronto at Imperial Pub on Saturday. “I think there’s so many other properties in and around campus that they could have utilized the space better.”
“We lack a lot of community spaces,” said Mathews. “This kind of was a supplementary place, though not part of campus, it’s still right beside it.”
The pair said they are working on a documentary for school to immortalize the pub’s history and legacy. Mathews said in his “dream world” TMU would keep a space for the pub to operate after the residence was built.
“It contributes so much to campus life in ways that I think are going to be lost,” he said.
Local history author Adam Bunch says local institutions are important for Torontonians to feel connected to the city and its history. (Lokchi Lam/CBC)
For decades, the Imperial Pub had been a place where all ages could come and enjoy a cheap beer with friends. Evan Davies, a customer since the 80s, said it hasn’t changed a bit.
“it was just a cool, crazy, awesome, predictable, lovely, smelly, perfect bar,” he said. “There was no question about it.”
Davies said the authenticity that made the bar so beloved can’t be replicated. “It takes 80, 81, however many years to get to the point where you have this weird old place,” he said.
A piece of Toronto history
By noon Saturday, a massive crowd filled the bar. Many of the patrons at Imperial Pub on its last day said the bar represented to them a piece of Toronto’s culture and history.
Many shared legends of the bar’s famed features. The book-lined upstairs bar, The Library, was developed in 1978 with students in mind, according to the bar’s owner, Fred Newman.
“If your parents say ‘where are you?’ ‘I’m at the library,’” said Newman, whose father opened the bar in 1944.
Adam Bunch, a Toronto history author, said Toronto has been changing and replacing old buildings with new ones since the city was founded. But, he said, it’s developed a reputation for not preserving its past.
“It’s a city where it’s not always easy to connect to that history,” he said. “So, when you lose a place like the Imperial, or Honest Ed’s or The Velvet Underground, you do feel like you’re losing a little piece of the city’s story as it goes.”
Imperial Pub’s owner, Fred Newman, said the “overwhelming” outpour of support has him considering reopening the bar. (Lokchi Lam/CBC)
Bunch called Imperial Pub an “institution” and said local haunts, like a favourite watering hole, bring people closer to the city and in doing so can motivate people to make it a better place.
“The history of the city is often big events, these big moments on big stages,” said Bunch. “But it is also these locals and these corners where people share their personal histories … that play a valuable role in the city and in the city’s history.”
Though perhaps the end of the Dundas Street location, Newman’s son and one of the pub’s managers, Ricky Newman, said it may not be the last you see of the Imperial Pub. Nothing is certain, but the outpour of support has the owner reconsidering the next move.
“A month ago, we would have said never, we’d never try to recreate this cause it’s impossible,” said Ricky. “I still think we all believe it’s impossible to ever have this again, but we might try.”
“You never know,” said Newman.