The Irish pub operator that brought The Raven back from a state of disrepair is now selling the storied Deep Cove watering hole less than two years after reopening.
The business at 1052 Deep Dove Rd. is listed for $488,000 with three years left on a five-year lease, and one five-year option to renew.
That’s after its current operator has put around $1 million in renovations to the historic location, according to IRL Group president and CEO William Donnellan.
A brochure for the business sale notes that the 6,081-square-foot space has a gross rent of $22,246 and net annual profit of approximately $200,000. The liquor licence has 134 liquor-primary seats and 50 food-primary.
The brochure boasts inviting photos of the extensively renovated bar, describing the "legendary" location as fit to serve "this wonderful Deep Cove community for years to come.”
In 2018, longtime owners the Crawford family sold the land to Darwin Properties, with the business being leased by Gibbons Group – which primarily operates pubs and clubs in Whistler.
Then the property was bought by a private investor in 2021. When Gibbons chose not to renew its lease in 2022, The Raven faced an uncertain future.
But IRL Group appeared with plans to save The Raven – keeping the legacy relatively intact, with the addition of some Irish flair – seemingly at the eleventh hour.
Fast forward to today, and Donnellan said the operation is too big for his company.
“We think that the right owner-operator, someone who is an expert in the food industry, will do really, really well there,” he said. “But we’re more of a pub group, and the Raven does a lot of food.”
Many Deep Cove residents come to The Raven specifically for food, Donnellan said, and the specialty of his business isn’t geared toward running large restaurants.
The Raven will stay open until buyer is found, operator says
A lot of the time, much of the pub sits empty.
“When you go downstairs to the lounge, that’s a huge space,” he said. "That’s the Raven that’s been there forever, since 1979, and we just don’t use that enough.
“It’s only open when upstairs hits capacity, or on the weekend when we have live music,” Donnellan said.
Despite putting The Raven up for sale after a relatively short period of operation, Donnellan said the business is profitable – it’s just not being used to its full potential. IRL Group’s other pubs are based in Vancouver, so he’s not able to go to Deep Cove as much as is needed to make The Raven the best it can be, he added.
Since quietly putting the business up for sale, Donnellan said he’s already gotten some interest. And, if someone came to him with the right proposal, he said he’d be willing to stay on as a partner.
Until a seller is secured, Donnellan said he will keep The Raven going.
“We’re not in any hurry to get out of there,” he said. This could happen in a week. It could happen in a month. It could happen in a year.”
With so much effort, and seven figures invested in renovating The Raven, you might wonder why it’s being sold for less than $500,000.
“That’s business,” Donnellan said. “Every time you open a business, you’re taking a risk. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
