served up free Christmas dinners <\/a>for more than two decades.<\/p>\n“It’s an institution,” said Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love the Carleton Tavern,\u201d he added. \u201cIt is the neighbourhood gathering spot.”<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the issue with keeping it?<\/p>\n
Despite Leiper’s feelings about the tavern, he supports the project.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the building will have to come down, he said, because the soil and underground water in the area is contaminated from the various businesses that have operated there over the past century.<\/p>\n
“Saving the original building is just not on the table at this point,” said Leiper.<\/p>\n
He said Taggart Realty Management, which owns the land around the pub, has to clean the soil and water before building anything new.<\/p>\n
In order to restore the environment, they would have to tear down the bar first, he said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772364254_929_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Residents and councillor weigh in on development proposal that would tear down \u2013 and then rebuild \u2013 the Carleton Tavern<\/p>\n
At a community meeting on Tuesday, February 24 around 100 people piled into the Hintonburg Community Centre to hear from the developers of the project and ask questions. CBC\u2019s Emma Weller spoke with people there.
\nWhat are people saying about the tavern?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful old spot,\u201d said Suzie Juneau, who lives not far from the Carleton Tavern.<\/p>\n
Juneau goes there regularly on Friday and Saturday nights and describes it as having both a great atmosphere and great food.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, it\u2019s a place to have a pleasant evening out,\u201d she said last week at a meeting on the proposal held at the Hintonburg Community Centre.<\/p>\n
Juneau also worries about what the new building will become, describing the architectural renderings for the site as a “facade.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just not the same. It\u2019s completely lost the character,” she said. “It\u2019s an institution.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772364254_114_default.jpg\")
This is what the future Carleton Tavern could look like, based off a rendering made for Taggart Realty Management. (Hobin Architecture)<\/p>\n
She’s not alone. Linda Hoad, a Hintonburg resident, said she also wishes the city could save the 130-year-old building.<\/p>\n
But she believes it makes sense to rebuild the tavern, and hopes it will remain a popular community space while maintaining some of its current charm.<\/p>\n
“I hope it will work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Stained](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772364255_312_default.jpg\")
The stained glass windows of the Carleton Tavern are expected to be kept after the building is torn down and put into the new edition of the building. (Simon Lasalle\/CBC)When could the tavern be demolished?<\/p>\n
Leiper said Taggart is simply looking to rezone the land the building sits on at this point.<\/p>\n
It’s still at the beginning phase of the project, and any demolition is likely still at least a few years down the line, Leiper told CBC.<\/p>\n
What will happen next?<\/p>\n
If the plan to build the 38-storey building eventually goes ahead, Leiper said the reconstructed building wouldn’t be an exact replica \u2014 but it would be fairly close.<\/p>\n
It’s expected to include a lot of original elements, he said, including the current stained glass windows.<\/p>\n
“We’ll be pushing them to make as many architectural nods to the history as possible,” said Leiper.<\/p>\n
It would ultimately be up to the current Carleton Tavern owners, he added, if they want to take over the revamped space and keep running it in the future.<\/p>\n
CBC reached out to the tavern Saturday but its owners said they were too busy to talk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-507245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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