The Pumpjack Pub

If you're not careful, you could walk by one of Davie Street's hottest gay bars without even noticing. “The owners wanted to create a bit of mystique about the place,” explains The Pumpjack Pub's manager Adam Jansson. “There's no sign out front. There's nothing on the windows. At 10:00 pm we pull the blinds. You can't see in. And all we have is a door guy out front. We may at some point put the logo on the windows, but that's as far as we'll go.”

But despite its mysterious, unassuming exterior, The Pumpjack is an institution among the LGBTQ community of Davie Village. Opened in December 2000, it quickly became the go-to hangout for the neighbourhood's more mature, masculine and blue-collar clientele; a place with an emphasis on leather and fetishwear. Today, although everyone is welcome, The Pumpjack maintains that focus, and has recently undergone extensive renovations that have doubled its capacity, adding pinball machines, pool and a dance floor.

“When it opened, it was very much a place for manly men,” Adam continues. “It was a men's bar. For men in leather: the bears, the daddies. The name even caters to oil workers, and a more blue-collar crowd. I think there needs to be that kind of a place here – both in the neighbourhood, and in the community.”