Blog Articles
The Local Gastropub
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
A true European pub is known for its comfortable quarters, conversations with strangers, and great craft beer. The Local Gastropub celebrates these public house traditions. Purposely, there is just a single television to encourage genuine conversation among patrons and staff, dart boards in the back and shelves of board games to ignite friendly competition and persuade tables to introduce themselves to one another. This truly relaxing pub provides a great space to laugh, take a load off, and enjoy yourself.
Scott Connor opened up the Local Gastropub in April of 2009, and renovated it to suit his taste and style. His goal was to offer Barrie something they didn’t already have in the area of food and drink. His creative idea around brining Downtown Barrie a truly authentic European pub stemmed from his childhood growing up in Scotland and experiencing first hand what European pubs were all about. Scott left Scotland at age 17 when he decided to explore the world and all that it had to offer him. He has cooked in both four and five star restaurants all over the world in places like London, Bermuda, Hong Kong, Thailand, New York and Toronto. Each stop along the way has given him a deeper insight into life and further established him as an accomplished chef.
One of Scott’s more fascinating experiences was the chance to be a star chef at the James Beard house in New York. This New York style apartment, which after James Beard was owned by Julia Child, has been turned into an exquisite restaurant that entertains a world renowned chef every week. This opportunity challenged and further shaped Scott to be the incredible chef he is today.
Throughout his travels and experiences, Scott wouldn’t change where he is now, enjoying life, and work, with his beloved family. Scott and his wife decision to settle down in Barrie came from their love of this city; it’s beauty, and the perfect blend of city and country offerings. The Local Gastropub brings an entirely unique experience to Downtown Barrie. All of the beer served is Ontario craft beer, with 14 local breweries on tap including Flying Monkeys, mill Street, Side Launch and more. They are the only restaurant in the Downtown area to have a real cask tap, inspired again by traditional pubs in the UK. As Scott keenly explains, the cask tap provides a cleaner, less bubbly beer, that is fresh and crisp to taste, replaced every 3-4 days, and has a higher percentage alcohol by volume.
Since the Local Gastropub is a family friendly restaurant, they serve Mill St. Root Beer on tap as well, so kids can feel a part of the crowd. Scott has chosen to maintain a modest sized menu so he can continue to make everything from scratch. They shop daily, they shop locally, and they try to support other businesses in the downtown because the growth of the community is of great importance to him. Scott’s ideas for the future of Downtown Barrie, especially the East end, truly demonstrate his creative character and the passion he has for making Barrie a better place. So the next time you’re in the East end, walk on over to the West end and enjoy a pint of one of their local craft beer options – Scott might even challenge you to a game of darts.
