The Imperial Pub, a beloved downtown watering hole at 54 Dundas Street East, will pour its last pint on November 15. Open since 1944, the family-run spot has outlasted trends and developments, surviving nearly everything except Toronto’s obsession with condos.
The pub was born when Jack Newman took over Glover’s Cafeteria and rebranded it as the Imperial Hotel. At the time, only hotels could serve alcohol, so the building came with a handful of rooms upstairs and a drinking room on the ground floor. The upstairs was later converted into the Library Room, lined with books, couches and games, quickly becoming a go-to hangout for Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University) students.
The ground floor earned its nickname as the Aquarium Bar, because of its circular bar with a massive fish tank at the centre. Over the years, the Imperial’s formula has stayed simple: local draft beer, pub food, jukeboxes spinning jazz and a rooftop patio with views of Dundas Square, soon to be renamed Sankofa Square.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. In the late ’90s, the city tried to take over the property to make way for Dundas Square, but protests luckily saved the pub. The Newmans, who have run it since 1944, have kept the pub vintage, with tin ceilings, the iconic aquarium bar, retro carpets and wooden chairs which make it look and feel more like a time capsule than the sleek gastropubs that now dominate the city.
The Imperial’s run ends not because of fading crowds but because of redevelopment. The property has been sold, and plans are in motion for a 30-storey mixed-use tower with nearly 300 residential units, ground-floor retail and rooftop amenity spaces. A heritage assessment acknowledges the building’s historic value, but whether the Imperial itself survives in any form is not known.
If you’ve never been, now’s your chance.
