Bard & Banker (Victoria)

 restaurant, pub / public house, poet, haunted place, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

30 different beers on tap, live music 7 days a week

website: bardandbanker.com
bardandbanker.com/history

Built 1883-1885

Former Canadian Bank of Commerce building (later Imperial Bank of Commerce) (1901-1988)
Former location retail store Spirit of Christmas (1988-2007)
Bard & Banker Public House (2008-)

In 1903, the English-Canadian poet Robert William Service (1874-1958) was hired at this Downtown Victoria branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce; during this time he also lived over the bank and there are stories of his ghost haunting the building.

He is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee"; these poems were later illustrated by the English-Canadian artist and longtime Victoria resident Ted Harrison (1926-2015).