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Popular pub on Delta-Surrey border to close doors again, six years after $150K in renos

‘I am looking forward to FINALLY retiring,’ says sign on the door from current owner Marilyn Sanders
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The Sundowner Pub has been in business for close to four decades. (Photo: Tom Zillich)

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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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



Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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