barRestaurant Takeover · Season 2, Episode 9 · Aired October 23, 2013
Duffy's Tavern
Toronto
This one survived. It remains in business.
On the show
Season 2, Episode 9 · October 23, 2013 · dive bar/diner
also referred to as Duffy's Diner | P2 SPINE-FIX: city backfilled from status
What happened after
Bar/eatery at 1238 Bloor Street West (Bloordale), Toronto, operating "Since 1949," self-described as one of the city's oldest bars. Official site (duffystavern.ca) is live with current hours (11am-2am daily) and live-music programming; also referred to as "Duffy's Diner" per the P1 notes.
What happened on the show
Open every single day of the year, Duffy's Tavern was a second home to a cast of regulars and serious drinkers, and owner Harrison loved his role as its ringleader. What he wanted, though, was something bigger: a legitimate restaurant rather than a dive bar. That ambition set up the episode's conflict, since turning his Bloor Street West institution in Toronto into a family-friendly, higher-spending room meant risking the very crowd that made it his kingdom. Restaurant Takeover took on that gamble with its six-day Food Network Canada format, the reboot of Restaurant Makeover, sending chef Corbin Tomaszeski and designer Cherie Stinson to reshape a bar open since 1949. The tension was Harrison against his own success: adapt and possibly alienate the loyal misfits who made Duffy's what it was, or stay a beloved dive and never reach the dream. The team had six days to help him choose without losing everything.
After the cameras left
Duffy's Tavern is firmly open. As of our latest verification pass the bar is still trading at 1238 Bloor Street West in Bloordale, billing itself as one of Toronto's oldest bars and operating since 1949, with a live official site listing current daily hours and regular live-music programming. An official page with up-to-date hours is about as direct an open signal as we get, and this is one of the cleaner confirmations in the batch. Whatever balance Harrison struck between his loyal regulars and his restaurant ambitions, the tavern itself came through, still pouring more than seventy years after it opened.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.