Just Opened
The Roy
A new Leslieville pub provides a much-needed local to an increasingly popular strip of Queen Street East By Signe Langford
Turn on your bright lights: The charm of a classic Irish
pub comes to Leslieville
Image credit: Signe Langford
A clear sign that a neighbourhood has arrived: the new joint is packed on a Monday night. Geek-chic boys in skinny jeans and Elvis Costello frames vie for space with 40-something filmies from the nearby movie production facilities. Many clutch pints or tuck into fish and chips and shepherd’s pie. The din of happy chatter is off the charts. Welcome to The Roy, an Irish pub newly nestled into Leslieville’s hopping portion of Queen Street East.
The bar is the brainchild of partners and long-time locals Andy Schnurr and Mark Corbett. After years of dreaming and scheming—and an 11-day, 42-pub odyssey across the Emerald Isle—the pair acquired Kubo Radio’s old space and set about transforming it from Asian cool to Irish warmth. It is now a comfortable mixture of the North American and Irish notions of what a pub is: cozy nooks, red velvet banquettes, heavily patterned carpeting, a fireplace (albeit electric) and no background music to get in the way of neighbourly conversation. Schnurr tells us that the place is based in part on Corbett’s father’s local, the Castle Bar in Dromore, Ireland. “His name was Roy, so we named our place after him.”
The pub theme is driven home in the details, including the simple, plentiful dishes from the kitchen: savoury curry chips ($5.95), Melton Mowbray pies ($5.95) and scotch eggs ($6.95), to name but a few. This isn’t seasonal or local food, necessarily, but hearty fare that goes down easily with one of the 10 brews on tap. Chef “Big John” Moffat, who happens to be Corbett’s brother-in-law, brings 20 years of pub cooking (Elephant and Castle, Hair of the Dog) to The Roy. “We wouldn’t have done it without him,” says Schnurr.
Judging by the size of the crowd on this Monday night, The Roy appears to have filled a void in Leslieville (one that may get crowded once Patrick McMurray opens the Ceili Cottage down the road). Perhaps locals are happy not having to schlep to the Danforth for Guinness and chicken pot pie ($10.95), or perhaps they just like the idea of a friendly local owned by locals.
The Roy, 894 Queen St. E. (at Booth Ave.), 416-465-3331, www.theroy.ca.
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What a mess. Bland, pulpy food and negligent staff made us pine for the bill as soon as possible. The upside? Thanks to the shockingly smarmy service we were able to save on a tip.
May 25, 2009 | by dmh1969LOL obviously you weren't in the right place. I've been a regular there since it opened and none of your issues have ever been seen by friends or myself.
January 14, 2010 | by Corky