“If you come here, you’ll fit in because we don’t have a type of person. If you’re 20 or you’re 80, there’s a spot for you here,” says Rose & Crown Pub general manager Dennis Madden. A very popular downtown neighbourhood watering hole and nightspot, the UK-style bar is located just off the intersection of Fourth Street and 17th Avenue Southwest. The pub is a second home to many of its longtime regulars. Though it looks like a sprawling old house, and its decorative knickknacks give it a rec-room feel, it was once a funeral home.
On a Saturday afternoon, a large group of ladies is seated in a corner of the pub’s main room, laughing and giggling as they enjoy heaping lunch entrees. A quiet couple seated next to the bar enjoys what appears to be a casual first or second date over pints of beer. An older gentleman and regular patron of the pub is seated right at the bar slurping away on a big bowl of soup and bantering with the bartender.
“I consider it a chameleon pub,” says Dennis. “It can be a businessman’s place for lunch, and it can be a pub for a lot of British people or neighbourhood people that just want to have some chicken wings and beers.” The pub also features live music on weekends and regularly screens hockey games and other sports events on its big-screen televisions. Patrons may visit for drinks or to watch the game, but they stick around for the conversation and the atmosphere.