The neighbourhood has a new sports bar – The Contender

Screen Shot 2014-10-30 at 11.15.40 AMLast night marked the grand opening of a new and anticipated neighbourhood sports bar called The Contender, located at 1166 Dundas West, just to the west of Ossington. It couldn’t have been a better night for sports with two important games, Game 7 of the World Series and opening night for the Toronto Raptors.

The location takes over an old clothing shop that never seemed to have customers. Our first impression was the impressive size of the location, and the sheer number of TVs. We assume the capacity may be over 150 or so, and there are TVs on almost every wall, an assortment of sports memorabilia, and a selection of bar games such as shuffleboard and an old coin-slot baseball pinball game. They have 8 separate receivers to show games on the TVs, so on a Sunday afternoon you are quite likely to watch pretty much any NFL game.

 

The business was put together by an assortment of people familiar with the area, including servers or owners from a bunch of local bars and restaurants including Reposado, Camp 4, Unlovable, Get Well and The Garrison. You can follow and find out what’s happening from their Facebook page here.

The menu is simple bar food, almost what you would find if you actually went to a game – some sandwiches, hot dogs, nachos and pretzels. Simple, but very sports-y. They have about 12 bar taps and their beer selection is far more sophisticated than what you’d find at Rogers or Air Canada Centre – with local selections from Lake of Bays and Mill Steet, while also covering the standards with Heineken and Coors Banquet.

The Bar with plenty of TVs:

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Lots of tables for lots of friends.

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A simple, sports bar menu:

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Some food items:

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