'It’s family': Last call for iconic Halifax blues bar in old building

An iconic blues bar in Halifax is bidding farewell to its long-time home as it prepares to move to a new spot.

Bearly’s House of Blues and Ribs has welcome musicians from around the world to its space on Barrington Street for decades, but the time has come for it to ship off to a new location in downtown Halifax.

“We sold the building seven years ago to a good landlord and he has given us many extensions,” said owner Mimi Iatrou. “We were lucky to find a building on Grafton Street much like this one. (It’s) over 150 years old, all mostly old bricks so it has that soul feeling, which fits in with the blues.”

Iatrou took over his dad’s restaurant in 1986 and transformed it into a bar.

“I realized there were no blues bars in Halifax or Dartmouth, so hence Bearly’s came to be as a blues bar,” he said. “I named it after my dog, a big old English sheepdog.”

Iatrou said they hope to move to their new spot sometime in September, and they plan to take some familiar items with them.

“We’re taking the furniture with us, a lot of the décor and most important, the bar itself,” he said. “I have the person who built it 37 years ago and he’s taking it to his shop and refurbish it, but he’s going to leave the scar.”

Iatrou said leaving the Barrington Street spot brings with it strong emotions.

“I’m going to miss it and if and when the time comes when it’s developed, there’s going to be a tear in my eye whether I like it or not,” he said. “It’s family.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Paul DeWitt.

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