It might be possible — council reviews pub rules on drinks-only patios
John Bermingham
Province
From left: Christina Rowe, Pilar Ruiz and Krystle McKinnon enjoy a drink outside at Malone’s in Vancouver yesterday. Photograph by : Nick Procaylo, The Province
You may soon be allowed to have a drink on an outdoor patio in Vancouver without ordering eats.
The city is considering relaxing its rules to allow neighbourhood pubs and hotel pub-lounges to have booze-only patios.
There are now 466 patios and the new rules could mean 200 more.
Since 1997, patios have been restricted to outlets serving food.
“Pubs are not allowed to have them, only restaurants,” said Vision Vancouver Coun. Heather Deal, who proposed the changes yesterday. “Relax that, and allow people to sit outside and have that glass of wine.”
Recently, the Waldorf Hotel on East Hastings built a patio, but got into trouble with the city.
“They applied for a patio under a pub licence, which isn’t allowed,” said Deal. “If they applied under the restaurant licence, it may well have been allowed.”
The Dominion Hotel has plans for a patio outside its pub on Abbott.
Deal said there’s room for many outdoor pub-patios in the city –along Main, Commercial, Fourth Avenue, Granville and Denman.
Deal, who lives in Kitsilano, said there are few places where she can hoist a glass and catch some rays.
“Walking up and down the street, it’s extremely difficult to find a place to sit outside and have a beer,” she said.
Deal’s move to immediately relax enforcement on patios was rejected by the council led by the Non-Partisan Association.
“I am uncomfortable with the idea of rewarding operators who have violated the bylaw,” said Mayor Sam Sullivan.
Deal said bar patios will have to pass the neighbourhood test, closing at a reasonable hour and limiting the noise.
“In many neighbourhoods, people will say ‘I don’t want this,'” said Deal. “And in some neighbourhoods, people will say ‘Absolutely, we’d like to sit outside in our own neighbourhood.”
Barwatch, representing the city’s major bars, supports the idea.
“I’ve always said they should keep the bloody things open, but they closed the patios on Granville Street,” said Barwatch spokesman John Teti.
“I’ve always been a believer in patios. Especially given that we’ve only got four or five months of sunshine here. We should capitalize on every bit of it.”
Pilar Ruiz, 27, was sipping strawberry daiquiris on the patio of Malone’s Bar & Grill in Kitsilano yesterday with her friends Christina Rowe and Krystle McKinnon.
“Patios bring tourists,” said Ruiz, a daycare teacher from Burnaby. “Tourists like to see what kind of people live here. It’s like advertising in a store window.”
McKinnon, a 22-year-old student, said it didn’t make sense for patio drinkers to have to order food. “I’m not hungry. I just ate before I came here. I’m here to sit in the sun and be with my friends. That what makes patios so good.”
“Plus,” Ruiz added, “you get drunk faster on a patio.”
© The Vancouver Province 2006
