After a few beers, Peggy Rody’s confidence would kick in.
“Peggy, don’t even bother,” her friends told her.
She’d ignore them and waltz through the packed bar, past the lady who was always selling flowers, past patrons chewing on square pizza slices, over to the men’s-only section of The Prescott .
“But those men were serious about their space; it was well-respected and a big deal for the Prescott that it was the men’s side. All they did was give me looks that scared the hell out of me!”
This was the early 1970s, when Rody was a student at Algonquin College.
“The whole city gravitated to The Prescott because it had great food and a great vibe. It was just a great place. That’s where my college buddies and I went to a lot,” she said.
There is no longer a men’s-only section at the legendary Little Italy establishment, but plenty of other things about The Prescott have changed since Rody’s time as a bar regular.
Giuseppe Constantini and Antonio Disipio first opened the bar, then the Preston Hotel, in 1934.
Eventually, right before COVID-19, Disipio’s grandson sold it to The MRG Group — a Vancouver-based network of hospitality companies — according to Constantini’s granddaughter, Trina Constantini-Powell.
Now that the place is up for sale, Constantini-Powell wouldn’t be upset if it were left in the past, because of how her grandfather lost the business back in 1941.
But for Rody and other Ottawans, the possible loss of an institution that holds so many warm memories is sadder.
“It was a great place; it was a hub. Those were the good years in Ottawa. There weren’t a lot of places like that, compared to now, but everybody knew about the Prescott; it was generationally known,” Rody said.
For Sale: 379 Preston St.
The Prescott has been up for sale on Realtor since May of 2026, when it was listed for $699,000.
On Aug. 17, the price was dropped to $499,000, but that’s not all it costs to be the new owner of the establishment.
“It’s $499,000 to be the new owner of the business in a leased premise,” said the bar’s Royal LePage broker, Ryan Earl.
On top of that, a buyer would pay a lease of $34,100 in gross rent, including taxes, maintenance and insurance, to the property’s landlord, “with lots of term remaining,” according to the listing.
The broker suspected the reason for the sale is that it’s The MRG Group’s only restaurant in Ottawa, which they can’t run hands-on.
The Prescott’s general manager, Trever Proulx, did not respond to an interview request.
Earl said that although dozens of potential buyers have reached out since he put up the listing, he hasn’t received any offers yet.
“Most of the inquiries are for keeping it the same, but there’s no guarantee of that. The majority are from Ottawa and the Ottawa area,” said Earl.
‘The Last Chance’
Back in 1934, it wasn’t always easy to find a place to have a beer in Ottawa.
Constantini and Disipio tried to change that, but could only get a liquor licence if they’d rent rooms to patrons. Thus came The Preston Hotel, which would rent rooms until 1978.
The Hotel was even the last place to get a drink before the town of Prescott , heading in the direction of Ogdensburg, New York, said Constantini-Powell, so it soon became known as “the last chance”.
But shortly after, in 1940, Constantini was arrested as part of the Italian internment in the Second World War, his granddaughter said.
Internment was the forced relocation of Italian Canadians and Americans, who were declared “alien enemies” amid the rise of fascism, after Italy declared war on the United Kingdom in 1940. About 6,000 Italian Canadians were arrested without charges.
Though Constantini would be released from jail eight months later, he lost his role at The Preston Hotel and was forced to surrender it to his lawyer.
Years later, when The Prescott became the standard spot for her family gatherings, Constantini-Powell remembered the injustice her grandfather suffered.
“Our cousins would go there every week. They would go bowling, then they would go to The Prescott. They would always have a meatball sandwich or spaghetti and meatballs. But there was something that held back me and my father because of what happened to his father, losing the hotel and ownership,” she said.
Her cousin, Rosemary Poggione, didn’t feel the same apprehension, but wasn’t mourning The Prescott, either.
She said that when the (now) Adult High School and the Queensway were built in Little Italy in the mid-1960s, the whole neighbourhood changed.
“The old Italians had to move out because they were expropriated. All that connection was lost. There were Italian shops all down there, but it’s just not the same,” Poggione said.
Poggione, now 80, grew up in their grandfather’s house on Rochester Street, though he passed away when she was four or five.
Before the construction, she said, the area was commonly referred to as the Italian Village.
“You could walk down any street, and you’d know everybody, whether they were Italian or not. It was a real melting pot. We all shared stories and food. Everybody lived on top of each other. You didn’t move far away from your parents or grandparents,” she reminisced.
But because Poggione said so much has changed, the thought of The Prescott being gone didn’t bother her — she still had the memories, which she said were enough for her.
“My brother passed away in March, and that was where he hung out. So, we went there after the funeral. It really had gone downhill. It used to be that a lot of people in that area would stop in or get their pizzas or meatball sandwiches. Slowly over the years, it just wasn’t the same.”
Though Rody hadn’t been back to The Prescott since her dancing days, she said, blushing with nostalgia, that she’d love to see it again.
“I’d love to see it go back to what it was; it was well run. I’d love to see them do something really cool on that corner.”
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