Montreal's all-time top 10 toughest bars

10- Neptune Tavern 121 Commune W. (1832-1976) Strongman Louis Cyr's career as a police officer ended in 1898 after he seriously injured patrons while breaking up fights in this place frequented by sailors. James Earl Ray, who killed Martin Luther King in 1968 was a regular as was Patrick Whelan who killed father of confed Thomas Darcy McGee 100 years earlier.

9- J.J. Bar 3270 Jean Talon E. A shooter killed four one night at this place in St. Michel on 29 June 1985, including a girl one her first night on the job.  Her father, the janitor, had begged owner Beaudry to hire her. The killer's girlfriend later turned him in after he threatened her and their child. The owner's son Renald Beaudry had previously been badly beaten and robbed while leaving with the take, an injury so severe that it forced him to wear a brace.

8Do Drop In 1867 Wellington Irish mob bar favoured by all levels of criminals from Larry Cooney to the Matticks brothers. An endless parade of beatings, kidnappings and assaults were regular events at the bar which closed in 2005 and was ordered to stay that way by provincial authorities the next year.


7 Peg's Motel 1980 Westmore "Fistfights broke out over a single ill-spoken phrase or even an innocent glance," wrote one description. A gunman, likely John Slawvey, shot at cops parked outside in 1976 and was later shot dead by police. The bar is long gone but the adjacent motel is still around under a less-interesting name.


    If you like this sort of content,  then you must run, not walk, to buy Montreal 375 Tales at Indigo, Paragraphe, Coles (Angrignon, Cavendish or Dorval), Vieux Bouc or Amazon right now, as you cannot afford to live in ignorance for one more day.

The 350-page beast offers the most comprehensive round-up of iconic bars, restaurants Montreal hotels ever compiled and is a number #1 bestseller in at least three categories on Amazon. It has been attracting 5 star ratings and reviews such as this:

"This book is a luscious mulligatawny of the proud and profane, the naked and the nearly naked, the weird and wonderful that have made Montreal a city to love and remember. Kudos to Mr. Gravenor for his adroit selection and presentation of this fascinating collection of morsels from Montreal's long and vibrant history. Highly readable and highly recommended.:

6-  Robert Bar Salon 5090 Notre Dame W. The Dubois gang demanded owner Robert Nantel sell them his strip club at a low price and when he refused, they kidnapped Nantel and a female employee and left them in a field in a mock execution. Employees were bullied until he sold. Someone from the McSween gang, then at war with the Dubois, shot at least 32 bullets at the place in 1976, killing a passerby.

5 Country Palace 400 Sherbrooke W. West End Gang toughs threatened the owner after they were enraged with a demand that they pay for their drinks. The owner called cops who shot a pair of the drinkers, killing one of them in Oct. 1967.

4 -Montreal Tavern1203 St. Lawrence Owner Laurier Gatien was repeatedly beaten and intmidated when he stood up to Dubois gang mobsters who sought a cut of the take. The gang was trying to extend its reach to the east and aimed to get their prostitutes and drug dealers permanently inside. The gang killed the owner of a nearby establishment but Gatien bravely stood his ground in the mid 1970s. Dozens were killed in and around bars on the lower Main over the decades.



3-Olympic Tavern aka The Bucket of Blood
originally sat at 1821 Wellington (now a vacant lot) moved in about 1958 to 1885 Wellington (NE corner St. Madeleine) taking over a tailor shop, in a building that has also now since been replaced. James Kitts, 65, had his skull fractured in a beating there in 1940 as did a man named Mitchell in 1957, and the violence continued unabated until the 1970s as gangsters and tough guys congregated among cocaine-hungry football players. Pakistani immigrants had a tough time after purchasing it and were intimidated into selling it to local thugs, one of whom was carried out in a body bag in its final days.


2- Joe Beef's Canteen Charles McKiernan's waterfront bar on Common Street was a magnet for hotheaded sailors, Fenians, strikers and drunks.

• The nearby police station was considered the most dangerous in town. (La Presse 20 March 1915). 
• A large Newfoundland dog bit a court employee on the leg, leaving him seriously injured during McKiernan's dog-and-bear show. The police inspector, who was also present inspecting, was not amused and suggested such shows should cease. (19 march 1881 Courier du Canada). 
• Louis Taillefer, sitting at the bar, was hit by a rock tossed from behind. His ear was amputated after McKiernan brought him to General Hospital . The assailant was named Paddy Lucy. (La Presse 21 Aug. 1885.)
• Two men staying upstairs watched in horror as a fearless man dressed in black walked into the river to commit suicide by drowning in the frigid waters. (La Presse 16 Dec. 1885) 
• Two men named Rafferty and Roddy went at each other with knives outside on a Saturday afternoon, leaving Roddy badly cut and disfigured. (La Presse 1 Feb 1886)
• Brothers James and Patrick Cannavan fought each other in a battle that grew as people leaped in to stop the action. Edward Connors from Newcastle on Tyne ended up shooting three people. (Nov 15, 1887 La Presse) leaving John Clark with an amputated leg. (18 Nov 1887 La Presse)

1 - Brasserie Iberville 5195 Iberville Two factions in the Devils Disciples biker gang went to war in 1975, leading to a string of murders, many at this very bar. Several were kidnapped at gunpoint from the place and never seen again. A pair was shot in the bar with onlookers chanting encouragement to the shooter. Its days finally ended when Michel Blass attempted to burn the place down with 11 people inside, as an imitation of what his brother Richard did a little while earlier at the Garantua, killing 17. Those stuck inside escaped before it blew.

Others: Plexi, Adult-E, Bar Ivoire, Checkers, Astro bar, Gargantua.