A Legacy 100 years in the making

From a pub in Sydney, Australia in the 1920s to family-run liquor stores across Vancouver — this is the story behind JAK’s.

It started in a pub.

In the early 1900s, a family purchased a pub in Sydney, Australia called The College Green.

It wasn’t just a business — it was home.

Mary Sayers was born in 1916 and raised in the residence above it, growing up surrounded by people, conversation, and community.

She would later marry Noel Dumas —

& with that, the next chapter of the family business began.

Hospitality became part of the family DNA.

Noel Dumas, founder of the JAK's family hospitality legacy, holding a tennis racket

Noel Dumas didn’t just enter the family — he stepped into the business.

In 1944, after returning from the Army, he took over the family pub.

He went on to run pubs across Sydney — eventually owning nearly twenty. He and his wife raised eleven children — with the family often living above the pubs themselves. Hospitality wasn’t just work. It was life.

And it became a pattern - each generation stepping in, building on what came before.

In the late 1960s, their daughter Carmel met John Kettlewell.

And soon after, everything changed.

A new chapter in Vancouver.

John Kettlewell came with a tradesman's work ethic — trained as a plumber, he'd spent years working alongside his father in the family plumbing business. He knew what it meant to show up, work hard, and take pride in a job done right.

But Vancouver sparked something new. He retrained at BCIT and UBC, and stepped into the world of hospitality — this time building something entirely his own.

In 1981, took over his first pub

Coquitlam: The Brass Rail.

It marked the beginning of a new legacy.

From pubs to neighbourhood staples.

Over the years, John and the family built and operated pubs across Greater Vancouver.

Places like The Brass Rail, Jake’s Crossing, The Elephant Walk, Roo’s Pub, Moonrakers, and Delany’s became local favourites — known for their atmosphere, service, and sense of community.

Elephant Walk Pub and Grill grand opening at 41st and Knight in East Vancouver, now the site of JAK's East Vancouver liquor store

Molly Hogan's Pub exterior in Vancouver, the original pub location before it became the Elephant Walk under John Kettlewell

The Molly Hogan, East Vancouver — the corner pub John Kettlewell took over in 1986.

Grand opening of The Elephant Walk — the pub that put this corner on the map, and the beginning of JAK's East Vancouver story.

Liquor stores naturally followed, giving customers a way to take that experience home.

And as before, the next generation stepped in — sons and sons-in-law continuing the business, just as it had always been done.

Evolving with the times.

As the industry changed, so did the business.

Neighbourhood pubs became less central to everyday life — but the need for connection, great service, and trusted recommendations never went away.

So the family adapted.

They shifted their focus to liquor stores

— bringing the same values into a new kind of space.

One name. One legacy.

In 2016, the family brought their stores together under one name:

The name is personal — drawn from John Andrew Kettlewell.

JAK comes from his initials — a way of carrying his name, and everything he built, forward.

What was once a collection of independent stores became one brand — built on generations of experience, shared values, and a commitment to doing things differently.