The Metropole - 320 Abbot Street - www.themetpub.ca
Last week we were graciously invited to another Donnelly acquisition/relaunch - The Metropole Community Pub at 320 Abbot Street in the Downtown Eastside.
The Metropole was established in the historic neighbourhood of Gastown in 1906 and is one of Vancouver’s oldest surviving pubs. Previous to this launch, it was one of those “blink and you miss it” kind of places, and probably not a destination drinking spot for the average Vancouverite. Although Donnelly Hospitality Management has done some definite “Donnelly style” renovations complete with what is becoming their trademark “everything black” décor and 14 flat screen TVs in a fairly small footprint.
Wait a minute, what? 14 TVs? Again? Holy jumpin’ Jesus H. Underpants! We have a suggestion, why not just drink at home and watch “The Donnelly Experience” on TV? A full Donnelly TV channel - all Donnelly, all the time. Much like that fireplace they play continuously on TV during the Christmas holidays, this would consist of people sitting around on bar stools, the occasional ‘virtual pint’ poured, and a lot of background “bar noise” dubbed in to really immerse yourself in the drinking experience. Crack a beer and you’re there. Hmm, we may be on to something.
But we digress, back to The Metropole and the booze!
The new pub seems to be a lower-end version of their other Donnelly offerings. A bit more gritty. This could be due to their “Downtown Eastside” location. The beer offerings seemed to be a lot less costly and local compared to Cinema’s imported line-up. (Click here for our previous review of Cinema)
On tap are sleeves of Kokanee, Okanagan Spring 1516, Granville Island Lager, Pale Ale, Honey Lager and Winter Ale which can all be had for $4.50. The only imports here were Guinness and Strongbow which go for $7.25 for a pint. (We didn’t get to check if it was a proper pint.)
Bottles of beer are $5.25 with the list as follows: Budweiser, Canadian, Kokanee
Alexander Keiths IPA, Sleeman Honey Brown, Corona, Pacifico, Red Stripe, Kronenbourg, Heineken, Stella Artois and Dos Equis.
Cocktails are $8.50 and are fairly standard and they have a selection of Tequilas, Scotch and other whiskeys.
Daily Drink Specials:
Mondays:
$3.50 Sleeves, $5 Doubles, $8 Can of Beer n Shot
Tuesdays:
$12 Domestic Pitchers, $8 Can of Beer n Shot
Wednesdays:
$3.75 Domestic Sleeves, $8 Can of Beer n Shot
Thursdays:
$6.50 Doubles, $5.25 Import Pints, $4.25 Drop Shots, $8 Can of Beer n Shot
Fridays:
$7.25 Doubles, $8 Can of Beer n Shot
Saturdays:
$7.25 Doubles, $4 The “Cure” (aka Caesar), $8 Can of Beer n Shot
Sundays:
$4 DOMESTIC SLEEVES, $5 Import Pints, $6 Vodka Redbulls, $4 The “Cure” (aka Caesar), $8 Can of Beer n Shot
For entertainment purposes there are 2 pinball machines, Golden T Golf & Big Buck Shotgun arcade games and a pool table to boot.
But to be honest, we think the coolest part of this pub is the fact that Donnelly Hospitality Management and their charitable arm, the Donnelly Fund have worked it out so that the pub will donate 25% of its annual profits to organizations in the Downtown Eastside such as United We Can, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Center, the Vancouver Food Bank and Gallery Gachet. Who would have thought that drinking could have a philanthropic angle?
All in, it’s sort of a pared down, budget version of the usual Donnelly steeze. With stiff competition from neighbouring Gastown pubs, time will tell whether The Metropole makes the transition from ancient sketcheriffic drinking hole to successfully gentrified pub.
One final note: off sales are available at the bar!
