The Bard and Banker pub sits in a building originally built to be the Bank of British Columbia in 1885. It was a bank for the next 100 years. The most interesting person to have worked there was an English man named Robert Service. He worked at a bank in Scotland before coming to Victoria. In his spare time he wrote poems and eventually gave up his day job to write full time. Robert Service wrote The shooting of Dan McGrew as a response to a near death event in his own life. He later wrote The Cremation of Sam McGee based on a story he'd heard. Robert Service WAS the Bard and the Banker.
The Bard and the Banker is owned by the same folks who have The Irish Times and it shows. If I had to contrast the two I'd say that The Bard is a classier place with less interesting uniforms. The stage is more open than The Irish Times but when we were there the band wasn't as good.