Joseph Fergusson English (1937 - 2022)
Joe English was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia and came to Whitehorse in 1959.1) He travelled north to deliver a Pontiac for Yukon Motors and stayed, saying everybody's got to be some place. English was a carpenter's helper and he drove a cab for a few years. There was a lot of illegal liquor sales and over a weekend, the cab stand would sell a case of booze an hour.2) In 1962, Joe rented bar space inside the Pioneer Inn.3) He didn't advertise, had no signs, and made its last call early in the evening. The bar was known as Joe's, Joe's Free Pour, or the Redneck Bar, depending on who was talking. He had name plates attached to the bar where his favoured patrons sat. If people asked how much a plate cost, he replied that those men had spent $15,000 to $20,000 over the years.4)
Tippy Mah, heading a Vancouver-based holding company, purchased the building in February 2007 and then had a dispute with the Yukon Liquor Corporation. Mah refused to make changes to the building as he planned to tear it down. English wanted a short-term licence extension to take him through the summer. They thought they had eight months to a year but last call at Joe's came with less than two hours’ notice when his liquor licence ran out. English had paid his lease to the end of March and lost the income from the last two weeks of the month. The last two weekends were the bread and butter in the business. Other businesses in the hotel, the Blue Moon Saloon and a beer and wine off-sales, were also affected. The steel foot rail from Joe’s bar was donated to MacBride Museum. English was finished, after pouring stiff drinks for Whitehorse patrons for twenty-eight years.5)
For much of his life, Joe had a passion for hunting, gun collecting, and gun restoration. He was member of the Yukon Order of Pioneers and was also deeply proud of his maritime roots.6)