A long-established pub located on the Surrey-Delta border is set to close in just a few weeks.
“It is with a heavy heart to announce the closing of our pub on November 6th,” reads a sign on a door of North Delta’s Sundowner Pub.
“I am looking forward to FINALLY retiring! Thank you from all of us at the Sundowner for your loyalty and patronage.”
The laminated red poster is signed by Marilyn Sanders, who bought the pub in the spring of 2015.
She began running the watering hole a couple months after the Podavin family closed its doors in March of that year, after close to 35 years in business at the corner of Scott Road and 64th Avenue.
Ed Podavin, who ran the Sundowner for three decades, died in September 2014. He was 73.
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Sign of the times at North Delta's @TheSundownerPub, set to close after 40 years of business on 64th Avenue/Scott Road. @deltachamber @NorthDeltaLife @ndminorhockey @NDBAbiz @Harvie4Delta
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) October 18, 2021
STORY: https://t.co/y5jNQZz2cC pic.twitter.com/5yHNbAgZ51
When Sanders bought the pub, she and her team renovated it over a period of six weeks, before reopening in mid-June 2015.
Close to $150,000 was spent on renovations, Sanders said at the time. Fresh paint, 20 TV screens, new bar stools, a granite bar countertop and a new kitchen were all added. The old pub’s pool table was removed, as were the dart boards.
“I’m open to constructive feedback and suggestions about entertainment, the food, beverages, all of it,” Sanders said in 2015.
She ran the Kennedy Pub in North Delta from 1996 to 2003 before turning her attention to the Jolly Coachman in Pitt Meadows for the next decade.
“I tried to retire (in 2013), but that didn’t work,” Sanders said.
Photos of the pub’s first-anniversary celebration (under Sanders’ control) are posted to the pub’s Facebook page.
It’s not immediately clear if Sanders attempted to sell the Sundowner in recent times, or whether a new buyer was ever sought.
The Now-Leader has reached out to her for comment.
More to come