[URBAN NOTE] "An Ode to Bar Volo, Closing this September"

[rfmcdonald]

Torontoist's Robin LeBlanc celebrates Bar Volo, a great Italian beer bar on Yonge north of Wellesley set to be displaced in September for condo construction.

I was saddened at first to hear that the little hip beer bar at 587 Yonge Street was closing down. Bar Volo was the first craft beer bar I ever went to. A group of friends and I would head down there, order random bottles of beers that sounded good to us, and share them around the table. The staff encouraged this (as I look back on it, rather expensive) method of discovery, and were nothing short of welcoming.

In recent years, I’ve often darkened their door to have one or two pints, and just last week my father and I sat on the patio, talking about our weekend over glasses of Burdock West Coast Pilsner.

It’s hard to believe that in less than a year, that location will be rubble, making way for a rather sterile-looking condo whose character and warmth will never match what was once there.

Earlier this week, award-winning beer writer Ben Johnson confirmed that Bar Volo, the much-loved and respected craft beer bar that has been operating on the corner of Yonge and Dundonald Streets for more than 28 years, will be closing its doors in six months.

The beautiful old building that houses Bar Volo and its neighbours is slated to be torn down to make way for — what else — condos. Last month, Cresford Developments — the company behind Vox on Yonge and Wellesley, Clover on Yonge, and Casa III in Yorkville — received approval by City Council for the development of a 44-storey tower, which will include more than 528 residential units and 232 parking spaces.