Restaurants Inside Historic BC Buildings: Old Banks, Train Stations, a Former Officers’ Mess

Before the highways, the railways carried people and freight across most of this province. The banks that financed that growth built big, expensive halls to show they meant to stay. Many of those buildings are still standing. Some now pour beer and plate dinner.

This guide covers restaurants and pubs inside former banks in Victoria and Kamloops. It also covers old CPR and CN stations in Vancouver, New Westminster, Kamloops and Kelowna, plus a WWII gun battery garrison on Stanley Park’s Ferguson Point. That last one is often described as the battery’s officers’ mess.

Each entry explains what the building was, why it mattered, and what to look for while you wait for the bill.

8. The Teahouse in Stanley Park (Ferguson Point, Vancouver)

During the Second World War, the threat of a Japanese attack was taken seriously on the coast. Ferguson Point was pulled out of Park Board control and an artillery battery went in on the headland. The building that is now the Teahouse sits just behind that emplacement. The City of Vancouver records it as the garrison for the crews manning the guns. Many other accounts call it the officers’ mess.

The building stayed military property for a few years after the war, then went to the Park Board. A family leased it and ran a tea room for years. By the mid-70s it needed serious repairs, and neither the tenant nor the Board wanted to pay. The Vancouver Health Department closed it in 1975. Renovations wrapped up in April 1978, and the Teahouse Restaurant served its first lunch on May 5 that year and its first dinner on May 10. The City tells the full story on its Stanley Park history page.

Ferguson Point is on Stanley Park Drive above Third Beach, on the park’s west side. Parking in the park is paid. Go before sunset on a clear day, since the view over English Bay is a big part of the meal.

Local tip: before you sit down, find the old battery site on the headland in front of the restaurant. Then look back at the building and you can see why the crews were billeted right there.

7. The Train Station Pub (North End, Kelowna)

Canadian National Railways built this one-and-a-half-storey station in 1926. It has fieldstone walls topped with stucco and trimmed with brick. The federal register calls it one of the first stations the company built in British Columbia.

Its importance to Kelowna is hard to overstate. The City of Kelowna says it was the first and only rail link tying the city into the provincial and national networks. It also pulled industry away from the waterfront and reshaped the North End. The city’s heritage register records the arrival of the first train inside city limits on September 11, when the mayor drove a gilded spike in front of a crowd of 1,500.

The pub is at Ellis Street and Clement Avenue in the North End. It now serves food, craft beer and Okanagan wine. The pub’s website lists hours of 9 a.m.–11 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 9 a.m.–midnight Friday and Saturday, with happy hour daily 2–5 p.m. and from 9 p.m. until close; confirm on the pub’s website or call (778) 484-5558.

Local tip: look at the fieldstone base and brick trim on your way in. The federal register notes the station was once surrounded by gardens and still keeps much of its original setting.

6. Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar at Waterfront Station (Downtown Vancouver)

Waterfront Station was the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Vancouver terminus. Montreal architects Barott, Blackader and Webster designed it between 1912 and 1914, and New York contractors built it. The Vancouver Heritage Foundation rates its ten free-standing Ionic columns as the city’s most impressive classical colonnade.

The station carried real weight in the First World War. It was the city’s main transportation hub, and every departing soldier boarded a train here. They rode east to Halifax, then shipped out to Europe. Today the building holds offices upstairs and still works as a transit hub for SkyTrain, the Canada Line, West Coast Express, SeaBus, buses and taxis. Rogue is the restaurant inside, at 601 W Cordova Street.

Don’t drive. Every transit line in the building drops you at the door, which makes this the simplest stop in this guide to reach.

Local tip: walk through the main station hall before or after you eat to see the classical interior. Then ride the SeaBus to the Shore and back for the harbour view. Hours weren’t verified from an official source, so check Rogue’s reservations page or call 604-678-8000.

5. Twisted Med Grill (Lorne Street, Kamloops)

The Kamloops CNR station is a large two-storey brick building with a symmetrical front, a hipped roof and Classical Revival details. Local firm Johnston and Company built it in 1926 and 1927, working from plans drawn by the CNR Architectural Division in Winnipeg. The restaurant, formerly Twisted Steak, is inside.

The design was ahead of its time. The register calls it one of the earliest stations in Canada built in the restrained classical style that later became common for public buildings, not only railways. The federal government designated it a heritage railway station on June 4, 1992. See the Canadian Register of Historic Places for the details.

The station sits at the bottom of Fifth Avenue on the north side of Lorne Street, beside the CNR tracks and just outside downtown. It opens at 11:30 AM Wednesday to Friday and at 3 PM on other days, so plan lunch midweek.

Local tip: walk around to the track side. The cantilevered canopy that wraps the building once kept passengers dry while they boarded.

4. Brownstone Restaurant (Downtown Kamloops)

The Canadian Bank of Commerce built this two-storey Edwardian Baroque branch in 1904 and added to the back and east side in 1912. The front is dressed stone and Kamloops pressed red brick, made at the local brick works in Mission Flats. Inside, the materials were the best available, including a marble floor in the banking hall.

The bank occupied the building until 1924, according to the City of Kamloops heritage register. The restaurant has been here since 2004. Like the Bard & Banker, it says Robert Service once worked in the building. That’s the restaurant’s claim, and it makes for a good round of trivia if you visit both.

This is a dinner-only room, open Tuesday to Saturday. It’s smaller than the pubs in this guide, so book. You can text 250.572.0503 or call 250.851.9939.

Local tip: the restaurant’s site advertises a garden courtyard. Check it’s still open before you plan on sitting outside this late in the fall. Twisted Med Grill in the old CNR station is a few blocks away for a second night.

3. Kelly O’Bryan’s & Carlos O’Bryan’s (New Westminster)

This red brick and sandstone building opened in 1899 as New Westminster’s CPR station. It’s two storeys, deliberately lopsided, with steep hipped bellcast roofs. The heritage register calls it a fine example of the CPR’s signature Chateau style. Architect Edward Maxwell drew it.

The location tells the story. It sits beside the old British Columbia Electric Railway station and close to the working Fraser River waterfront. The register says that cluster shows New Westminster’s role as a regional transportation hub, back when rail was the main way to cover long distances overland. The register entry is a short, good read.

It’s next to New Westminster SkyTrain station on the Expo Line, so leave the car at home. Happy hour runs 2 PM to 5 PM, with a late-night happy hour from 9 PM to close.

Local tip: look at the BC Electric Railway building beside it, built in 1910 and 1911. Interurban cars once ran diagonally right through that building to connect the Front Street and Columbia Street tracks. Two railway stations, one block.

2. Irish Times Pub (Bastion Square, Victoria)

Two blocks north of the Bard & Banker is a four-storey building that looks like a small castle. Francis Rattenbury designed it for the Bank of Montreal. The heritage register dates it to 1897, while the pub’s own site says 1894. Either way, it’s an 1890s bank with a slate roof, crenellated cornices, a cut-off turret and gargoyles.

Rattenbury is the thread here. He arrived in Vancouver in 1892 and within a year won the competition to design the BC Parliament Buildings. He was 25, and it was his first major commission, according to the Legislative Assembly. The pub says this bank was his first Chateau style design, about ten years before he used the same stonework on the Empress Hotel. The client mattered too. The Bank of Montreal was the main financial backer of the CPR.

The Irish Times opened here in 2004. You can walk between the two old banks in a few minutes on Government Street.

Local tip: stop on the sidewalk and look up at the turret and gargoyles before you go in. After dinner, take a short walk around Bastion Square next door.

1. Bard & Banker (Downtown Victoria)

The Bank of British Columbia opened this three-storey Italianate building at Government and Fort in 1885. Architect W.H. Williams designed it as the bank’s Canadian headquarters. At the time it was the most sophisticated and costly building of its kind in the province.

That spending was a bet. Victoria expected to become the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the bank built for that future. The railway ended up in Vancouver instead. The building stayed a bank under a run of owners until 1988. The pub says Robert Service, later known as the bard of the Yukon, was its most notable employee. That claim comes from the pub, and you can read its version on the Bard & Banker history page.

From the mainland, the Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay ferry takes 1h 35m, then drive or take transit into downtown. The pub is a short walk from the Inner Harbour. Happy hour runs 2:30 to 5:30 PM daily.

Local tip: ask for a table where you can look up at the old banking hall. Live music starts at 8:30 PM Sunday to Thursday and 9 PM Friday and Saturday, per its weekly specials page, so come early if you want to hear yourself talk.

What these buildings were built as

Restaurant	Original use	Built	City
Bard & Banker	Bank of British Columbia	1885	Victoria
Irish Times Pub	Bank of Montreal (Rattenbury)	1897 (register; pub says 1894)	Victoria
Kelly O’Bryan’s	CPR station	1899	New Westminster
Brownstone	Canadian Bank of Commerce	1904	Kamloops
Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar	CPR station (Waterfront Station)	1914 (designed 1912–14)	Vancouver
The Train Station Pub	CN station	1926	Kelowna
Twisted Med Grill	CNR station	1926–27	Kamloops
The Teahouse	WWII garrison / officers’ mess	WWII era (exact year not verified officially)	Vancouver

When they’re open (from official sites, Oct 2026)

Restaurant	Hours
Bard & Banker	11 am–1 am, 7 days; happy hour 2:30–5:30 pm
Irish Times Pub	Mon–Fri 11 am–1 am; Sat–Sun 10 am–1 am
Kelly O’Bryan’s (New West)	11 am–12 am Sun–Thu; 11 am–1 am Fri–Sat
Brownstone	Dinner Tue–Sat 5–9 pm
Twisted Med Grill	Sun–Tue 3–9 pm; Wed–Thu 11:30 am–9 pm; Fri 11:30 am–10 pm; Sat 3–10 pm
The Teahouse	Closed Tue & Wed; Mon/Thu/Fri from 11:30 am; Sat–Sun from 10:30 am (Destination Vancouver listing)

When to go

The hours table above lists what each restaurant posts on its own site. A few patterns are worth planning around. The Brownstone is dinner only and closed Sunday and Monday. Twisted Med Grill only does lunch Wednesday to Friday. The Teahouse is closed Tuesday and Wednesday per Destination Vancouver, and its listed closing time varies by source, so call first.

If the architecture is the point, go early. Both Victoria pubs get livelier as the evening goes on, and the Bard & Banker’s music starts at 8:30 PM on music nights. For the Teahouse, time it for daylight so you can see English Bay and the battery site.

Getting there

• Vancouver and New West: Rogue is inside Waterfront Station and Kelly O’Bryan’s is next to New Westminster station. The Expo Line connects them, so you can do two railway stations in one evening with no car.
• Stanley Park: Parking is paid. 2026 rates weren’t confirmed by the Park Board, so check the pay station when you arrive.
• Victoria: BC Ferries lists the Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay sailing at 1h 35m. Check current conditions before you leave home.
• Kamloops and Kelowna: These are highway drives from the coast. Check DriveBC for conditions before you go, and carry what you’d want if you got held up on a mountain pass this time of year.

Etiquette and what to bring

• These are working restaurants and pubs, not museums. Photograph the ceilings, not the next table.
• Book the smaller rooms. The Brownstone takes reservations by text or phone.
• If you want to see a banking hall in peace, ask for a quieter table when you book.
• Accessibility, kids and dogs weren’t covered by official sources for these buildings. Many are over a century old, so call ahead if any of that matters to your group.
• Hours change with the seasons. Check the official site before a long drive or a ferry.

The stories that connect them

A few names keep turning up. The CPR built two of these stations, and the Bank of Montreal, which owned the Irish Times building, was the railway’s main backer. The Bank of British Columbia built its Victoria headquarters on the hope that the CPR would end there. Rattenbury links the Irish Times building to the Legislature and the Empress. Two of the restaurants, one in Victoria and one in Kamloops, each say Robert Service worked in their bank. No government source confirms either claim, so treat it as good dinner conversation.

Turn it into a trip

Trip	Stops	How you get there	Plan around
Lower Mainland by SkyTrain	Rogue at Waterfront Station; Kelly O’Bryan’s in New Westminster	Expo Line between Waterfront and New Westminster stations	Rogue’s hours aren’t verified; call ahead
Stanley Park lunch or sunset	The Teahouse	Stanley Park Drive above Third Beach	Paid parking; closed Tuesday and Wednesday per Destination Vancouver
Victoria old banks	Bard & Banker; Irish Times Pub	Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay ferry (1h 35m), then into downtown	About two blocks apart on Government St
Kamloops heritage weekend	Brownstone; Twisted Med Grill	Drive; check DriveBC	Brownstone serves dinner Tuesday to Saturday only
Kelowna North End	The Train Station Pub	Drive; check DriveBC	Hours not verified; call (778) 484-5558

Most of these buildings were put up to move money or people, and they were built to impress while doing it. A dinner reservation is the easiest way to get inside and look around. Start with the Expo Line pair if you’re in the Lower Mainland. Save Victoria for a ferry day, and Kamloops for a weekend that includes a Tuesday through Saturday. Check the hours before you go.

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Photo credits

• Victoria, BC – 1400 & 1450 Government Street 01 (20342172290).jpg by Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US), CC BY-SA 3.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Victoria, BC – 1300 Government Street 01 (20344531528).jpg by Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US), CC BY-SA 3.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Victoria, BC – 1316-1328 Government Street 01 (20343387589).jpg by Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US), CC BY-SA 3.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Stanley Park – Ferguson Point.jpg by GoToVan, CC BY 2.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Merchants Bank of Canada, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 06.jpg by Michal Klajban, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized; cropped for the featured image). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Waterfront Station Vancouver 1923.jpg by Matthews, James Skitt, Major (1878-1970), Public domain (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Masonic Block.jpg by Michael Hamilton (mhamilton1927), CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Bank of Montreal Building, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 02.jpg by Michal Klajban, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• 3rd. Avenue at Victoria Street, Ray Fuoco Block Downtown Kamloops.jpg by Kiyoteru Awaji, CC BY 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• KHR2141 Kamloops Station 092610 1.jpg by Mick Hall, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• CN Station, north side.JPG by Machegav, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.