“If you have good food and good service, that’s all you really need.”
Lisa Watkins and Barry Williams became the new owners of The Elephant Bar in Aylesbury in August of 2023. Since then, the two have put countless hours into overhauling the place, all while keeping the original charm and history of the bar intact.
“We’ve completely redone the kitchen and the whole outer part where we have a little bit of a convenience area,” Watkins explains. “We’ve done some stuff in the bar part, but nothing significant to the actual history of the bar. We changed up a few things, took some of the pictures down, but just to clean it up a bit, not necessarily to take anything away.”
Watkins notes that the draw to The Elephant Bar is the connection with past and present clientele, and that the photos on display are part of the appeal.
“The pictures we run through for game days, they’re all on the TVs,” she assures. “We’re also going to make a digital photo album, as well as put up some 8x10s on the walls. Stuff like that. Other than that, we’ve just cleaned it up a bit to make it into somewhere that everyone wants to be.”
Over the years, The Elephant Bar has become one of the province’s most iconic pit stops. Watkins lists that they regularly host bikers, skidoo derbies, fundraisers, birthday parties, and even business meetings.
“There’s a lot of people that stop through here. And once they’ve been here, they want to come back,” Watkins shares. “We have buses stopping every game day, too- we have many, many people roll through here from early hours to just before the game.”
The Elephant Bar and Grill hosts Wing Nights every Friday, and their Pool League plays Thursdays starting at 6-30. Their menu is filled with fan favourites, including their homestyle burger- a 7oz patty on a handcrafted bun, served with home cut fries.
Since taking over the business, the level of community support has been remarkable for the new owners,
“I don’t even know how to say how much support they’ve given us. But it’s been amazing. I kind of think that giving them a place that they want to be, that it’s actually brought the community back together.”
The Elephant Bar is open Monday - Wednesday 10am - 8pm, Thursday - Saturday 10am - 11pm, Sunday 12pm - 8pm.
Find them at 320 Main St Aylesbury SK, or online on their Facebook page.