Historic Royal Hotel reopening in September

Palmer remembers joining her family at the bar to watch live bands and enjoy the atmosphere.

“My grandpa went to this bar, my mum went to this bar, everybody that’s grown up in Medicine Hat has a story that involves the Royal in my opinion, and it’s a huge supporter of live music which I love,” says Palmer. “We need it back so we’re going to give it our best shot.”

When the Royal closed as a result of the owners focusing on the liquor store next door, Palmer decided to make it her passion project to reopen its doors.

She’s been working on updating the pubs bathrooms, ripping up carpet and licensing the business.

“We’re on a really short time crunch, it all came together in a really short period of time. So between licensing and renovations there’s a lot to opening a bar,” she says. “A lot more than I anticipated and a lot of moving parts, but it’s all coming together.”

She says there will be some updates, like new beer on the menu from local breweries, a new entrance, and a brand new sign. It will also operate under new hours from Thursday to Saturday.

However, she doesn’t want to change too much, in order to keep the feeling of The Royal alive.

“The Royal has always been a dive bar, it’s meant to be, that’s what its going to always be but we have made a few changes,” says Palmer. “It’s going to be the comfortable place people are used to coming to and enjoying.”

She says she has no concerns about keeping customers flowing in the doors as well.

“I’m not concerned at all, I know there are so many people that have missed this bar in the city and the regulars will always come back,” she says. “That’s why I said we’re not changing it an awful lot because we want everyone to be comfortable and that’s the kind of place The Royal is. Everybody’s welcome and everybody’s treated the same and I know that that business will be there.”

The Royal opens its doors on September 14 at noon.

by Jessie Weisner

Historic Royal Hotel reopening in September

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