Stay
It’s no accident that you’ll feel a bit of a tug at your inner Brit when you step into the Guv’nor Inn & Pub. We have a long history connected with England here in St John’s and we like to celebrate its quaint traditions.
Built back in the 1950s, the inn was first known as the Kenmount Motel and featured a fancy dining room complete with starched white tablecloths and a perfectly polite ambiance. Fast forward to June of 1993 when a young married couple, Brenda Lawlor and Derrick Aylward leased the restaurant and lounge, and six years later, in 1999, they purchased it along with the attached Centre City Hotel.
In 2025, The Guv’nor Inn and Pub was purchased by Dion and Dora Finlay, stewards of The Leaside Group of Companies that include Leaside Manor, Monastery Spa Hotel, Leaside Executive Apartments, Arnold’s Cove Inn, Riverside Therapeutics, Villa Nova Physio and Monastery Health.
Having started as a team of two, Dion and Dora now have over 140 employees across all their businesses.
What’s important to us? People are.
We welcome the weary traveller for an overnight stay in one of our private courtyard rooms. We welcome business people to our elegantly furnished meeting rooms. We welcome locals and tourists into our pub where we’ll pour a pint of craft beer made right here in Newfoundland and Labrador. Many can’t resist staying just a while longer for something from our British-inspired menu. And we love sharing our Newfoundland cuisine with the foodies who stop by. For people, we have all the time in the world.
The Guv’nor Inn & Pub is now a favourite of ‘come-from-aways’ and locals alike. Of course, we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Whether you’re staying, dining or meeting, stop by the Guv’nor Inn & Pub and let us show you what Newfoundland hospitality is all about. It’s All Right Here.
You could shoot an episode of Coronation Street there… Rita, Norris, Audrey and Gail would feel quite at home in a Guv’nor booth.
- Karl Wells -
Want to tuck something a little out of the ordinary inside that special occasion card? Maybe you know someone with a birthday, anniversary or engagement. Or maybe there’s someone who needs a pick-me-up or a thank you for a random act of kindness. The Guv’nor’s Gift Card puts smiles on faces.
Would you like to join the Guv’nor’s crew? If you think you’d fit in with us – friendly and helpful with a well-exercised sense of humour – then we’d like to hear from you.