Doug Grant, the former patriarch of Halifax’s iconic Midtown Tavern, has died.
He was 86.
Grant, a teetotaller who bought the downtown watering hole in 1971, was known for his love of sports and his no-nonsense approach to running a business. "We never change," he told a Chronicle Herald reporter in 1999, the 50th anniversary of his employment at the tavern.
"The steak you get today is the same steak you’d get 15 years ago."
The Midtown also hung on to its rec-room style of decor, including the famous fake rocks on the walls. A women’s washroom, up behind the bar, wasn’t added until the 1970s.
Located for decades at the corner of Grafton and Prince streets, the Midtown moved a block to Grafton and Carmichael in 2009.
Grant and his sons made a failed bid to build a hotel on the old site.
An avid supporter of amateur sports, Grant was inducted into the Nova Scotia Softball Hall of Fame in 2005. As a teenager, The Bulldog boxed at the Parrsboro Boxing Club.
The tavern is a well-known hangout for athletes and sports fans, many of whom gather there before heading to a sporting event at the nearby Metro Centre.
Grant eventually handed over the running of the business to sons Eric and Bob.
In later years, his children were involved in a legal dispute over their father’s finances and ownership of the Midtown.
Grant, who lived in Shad Bay, is survived by sons Eric, Bob and Jeffrey and daughters Arlene and Laara. He was predeceased by his wife of 49 years, Jean.
Funeral services for Grant, who died Sunday, will be held Friday at 1 p.m. at the Atlantic Funeral Home on Bayers Road in Halifax.
