O'Connor's Irish Pub: A Crossroads of French and Irish
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
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OLIVER O'CONNOR, owner of O'Connor's Irish Pub in Edmonton, surrounded by some of his friendly staff.
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O'Connor's Irish Pub is one of Edmonton's newer Irish establishment, but the building itself has quite a history. It has the unique distinction of being the oldest free standing pub in Edmonton.
Originally, it was actually two buildings. One was a grocery store and the other a pub, which eventually became a restaurant/bar.
When owner Oliver O'Connor bought the land, buildings and business, he amalgamated it all into a pub and did extensive renovations to bring this old beauty into the Twenty-First Century.
The result is a homey pub with little snug areas and a bar where you can sit and have a chat with the friendly staff. The bar seats about 132 people and when the weather is warmer, there is a patio to accommodate about another 30 people.
O'Connor who hails from Ballygar, County Galway in the West of Ireland immigrated to Toronto in 1972, migrating west to Manitoba and finally settling in Edmonton. O'Connor's biggest business is in real estate investments with the pub being his secondary job.
Running an Irish pub was always a dream of O'Connor's, but that went on the back burner when he got involved in the building trades and then into real estate which took most of his time.
Oliver laughed when he spoke about how the opportunity came about for him to realize his dream of owning his own pub. "It was by default," he said, "I attempted to get into the business in my early twenties and thirties, but was too busy in the real estate.
"This was a pub that I patronized and quite liked and when I saw the information coming across my desk that it was for sale, the timing was right. My daughter, who was in university, was tired of her job and wanted a challenge and so we took this on, and it is a challenge for sure!"
O'Connor's Pub is located in a French community area of Edmonton near the Faculty of St. John's, which is an extension of the University of Alberta. As a result, there are many French speaking clientele at O'Connor's, along with foreign students, professors and business people. There is even the occasional visit from some of the players on the Edmonton Oilers hockey team.
"We have all walks of people here, a good mixture of people, it's really not one crowd or the other," said O'Connor. "We're really above average in the pub business. Our establishment is really a meeting place - a crossroads of French and Irish."
"We have live entertainment on Friday and Saturday night and at the moment, we're considering having Celtic night on Thursday evenings.
"We're booking for holiday parties now, but only on nights that we are not traditionally busy. We can be very flexible in our menu and will always try to accommodate the needs of our patrons."
O'Connor's Irish Pub is located at 9013 - 88 Avenue in Edmonton, Alberta. For more information, call (780) 469-8165, or e-mail: oconnors_irish_pub@telus.net.
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