CLOSURE: Iconic Toronto bar closing down for good
Published July 23, 2025 at 3:48 pm
Patrons who have long frequented an iconic bar that has moved around the west end of the city can swap tea one last time this fall.
Yesterday, a beloved Toronto hotspot that has endured more than its share of ups and downs over the past 15 years announced that the time has come to officially close its doors.
Cold Tea, which got its start as a hidden speakeasy in Kensington Market before eventually expanding to Queen West (where it would end up operating exclusively after its first location closed permanently in 2020), will wind down operations later this year.
“Friends and family, the time has come…
This will be Cold Tea’s last summer as we will be closing our doors come the fall,” operators said in a post on social media.
“Thank you to everyone for the support over the years — it’s really been everything.
If you were ever part of it: our market day-ones, our last-call industry friends, old staff, new staff, familiar faces — please come through these last few weeks of summer and help us send it off right.”
The news came as a shock to partygoers, with one poster declaring they “fell to my knees in a Shoppers” (and Shoppers Drug Mart’s official Instagram account responding with a heartbreak emoji).
Cold Tea, which first opened in 2010, reportedly derives its name from a local slang term that refers to discreetly (and clandestinely, even) obtaining liquor from a teapot at a Chinatown restaurant after last call.
The name actually became part of a major dispute in June 2020, when Cold Tea owners Stacey Welton and the late Oliver Dimapilis (who succumbed to cancer in 2023) called on a Vancouver restaurant to refrain from using and trademarking the name Cold Tea, arguing that it would confuse guests who sometimes travel internationally to immerse themselves in the “safe and inclusive” space offered by the bar.
On Instagram, revellers shared memories and discussed how, in many cases, the bar had changed their lives.
“Met my wife at the market,” one poster wrote.
Another thanked not just the bar, but all of its patrons.
“Thank you to everyone who was part of what’s been for me, the heart of all my best Toronto memories. Fantastic people. Amazing times.”
Alluding to a possible future for the iconic destination, operators hinted at something more coming down the pipe at some point.
“This isn’t the end of the story. Just the end of a really great run,” they wrote.
Cover photo courtesy of Cold Tea’s official Facebook page