Weekends on Barrington Street just got a whole lot quieter. After over 10 years of offering a venue for rowdy nightlife, live music and quality pub grub, the Pogue Fado announced today via Facebook that it’d be closing its doors permanently, effective immediately. This is a pretty shocking blow to the bar scene, mourned loud and clear across social media tonight.
“After a decade of business, today we bid you farewell. A long and careful evaluation of our position indicates to us, like it has to others in our industry, that moving forward given the current business environment downtown simply doesn’t make sense,” said the post from the pub’s owners this evening. “As owners, we are happy and proud of Pogue Fado Irish Public House and of all those among you who have made it possible. We are grateful for the past ten years and all it has given us; you have our heartfelt thanks.”
Tonight we’re drinking to the memory of the Pogue, it’s long lineups, very Irish stamina and its long (and seemingly popular) run as a lively fixture on Barrington Street.
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 1, 2013.
Burn in crappy bar hell where you belong Pogue. This place was the dirtiest shit hole in Halifax. An insult to Irish pubs all over the world.
Gonna miss their lovely waitresses with their skirts and knee-socks. Rawr!
What a complete moron. Dirtiest shit hole in Halifax? Have you ever actually been there? Try going to the Palace (closed now), The Dome, Alehouse or Lower Deck. There you will find the dirtiest shit holes in Halifax. The Pogue may not have been particularly authentic as an Irish bar but it was certainly a fantastic alternative to the shit dance scene that is the Dome etc.. the crowd was good, rarely ever a fight and they actually played decent music rather than the usual top 40 crap. You will be missed Pogue, Halifax is no longer the same.
Yeah, I have been there. Have you ever been there when you weren’t piss drunk? The place was an absolute disgrace to the bar/restaurant industry. The only positive was the live music. Terrible food, terrible service and the most disgusting washrooms in the city. Hate to see what their kitchen looked like. If you think this place was awesome, you are an idiot. You need to raise your standards dude.
Note: “it’s” ≠“its”
The Pogue is a dive. If not in the same “class” as the likes of Oasis, it certainly wasn’t anywhere I wanted to go to drink much less eat. Although, I did once have a very long dinner with a small group including one of the staff ID physicians. That was a weird day. Otherwise I’ve only ever been there when very drunk.
I had a friend that worked in the kitchen at the Pogue, and he specifically told me to never eat there, he said it was one of the dirtiest kitchens he had ever seen, and that they didnt give two shits about cross contamination that people may get sick. I say it will be a good change for Barrington. Get a half decent place in there
Classy joint http://www.gov.ns.ca/agri/foodsafety/repor…
So yes, Patrick. Maybe not the dirtiest shit hole in Halifax, but certainly a dirty shit hole.
The few times I was there at night I was glad I wasn’t wearing good shoes or pants that touched the ground, their bathroom was, well, not nice.
I drank there and liked it, but that place was a pit. If I’m using my elbows to open doors and turn faucets on while totally hammered, it’s frigging dirty.
I am glad it closed. Pogue was a total shit hole with worst service out of all the bars. I was totally ignored by the staff that was busy chatting with themselves. It was by far the dirtiest bar in town which makes me question if Nova Scotia even have Food Service Inspection? Place should have been burned down as there was probably Ebola in it. There are lots of excellent bars in Halifax, Pogue was not one of them
This is heartbreaking to read.
Back ten years ago when my dad and his buddies first opened the pogue it was beautiful, drinking iced tea out on the patio. Then at night the bar filled up, live folklore music. This bar means a lot to me. When I think of Halifax, the pogue fado is first in my mind. If not for the pogue fado my dad may have never met my step mom. they later sold the bar, and my guess is it all went down hill from their. Anyways remeber the pogue fado for what it was and not what it became.