Extended drinking hours will only go so far as to saving Vancouver’s nightlife, says hospitality industry

The lights might soon be staying on longer at your local pub, as the City of Vancouver considers extending last call.

Many a Vancouver bar-hopper will know the feeling of getting into the groove of the evening just as the music fizzles and the overhead lights flood the room. The “no fun city” isn’t known for its raucous nightlife, but a consideration made by the City of Vancouver to extend the time for last call is offering a glimpse into how things could be different in the near future.

The city is proposing a new regulation that will allow restaurants to extend their liquor-serving hours to 2 a.m., and downtown bars, pubs and nightclubs to remain open until 3 a.m., every night of the week.

If the proposal gets the green light, it will update a policy that hasn’t been changed in over 20 years.

“I’m confident that if we could stay open later, there would be more people coming, and allowing operators to go a little bit later helps small business growth.” says Jesse Sugarman, the operating partner of Commercial Drive gastropub The Charlatan.

“The fact that you can only get a drink after 1 a.m. on a Tuesday if you’re on Granville Street is ridiculous. If you’re 45 and on a date night with your spouse, you don’t want to go to nightclub avenue,” adds Brandon Wilbur, the general manager of Gastown’s Guilt & Co.

While the potential change is a step in the right direction to breathing life into Vancouver’s late-night bar scene, both Sugarman and Wilbur say there is still much more that needs to be done to resurrect it completely.

“In my opinion, it might be too little, too late,” says Wilbur.

“It’s no secret why people refer to this city as ‘no fun Vancouver;’ we’ve got these noise bylaws and limitations, and it’s incredibly hard to get a liquor licence,” he says.

Sugarman adds that the fact that patrons aren’t allowed to even stand up and boogie at their local bar is something that is “pretty unique” to Vancouver.

The ‘no fun’ aspect of Vancouver’s personality has become so baked into its culture that Wilbur says he doesn’t even run his business – one of Vancouver’s most flocked-to bars – as late as he legally can, because the appetite is lacking.

“Gastown has died,” he says.

“The rents have gone so high. There are places that are boarded up, businesses are just pulling out and leaving Vancouver. There needs to be a solid initiative to actually return a bit of culture to the neighborhoods.”

Part of that initiative, a solution that has been sought for by the community for years, he says, would be increasing transit services so that there are safer ways for revellers to head home once last orders have been called.

And yet, while TransLink has said it will “remain in conversation” with the City of Vancouver as plans progress, a spokesperson said the organization has ruled out an extension of its SkyTrain hours due to the time it takes for staff to maintain the system.

In the meantime, TransLink suggests nighttime revellers utilize the NightBus service. There are plans to expand the late-night bus service, but the plan is currently underfunded, said the spokesperson.

With the NightBus and ride-sharing services currently the only transport available for late-night bar dwellers, there are concerns being raised over whether more people will be getting behind the wheel well after they’ve surpassed their alcohol limit.

Timothy Naimi, a director for the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, says research shows that bars being open later are associated with more problems like assaults, vandalism, and drivers taking to the roads with higher blood alcohol levels.

“Anytime you increase alcohol availability, you’ll see a corresponding increase in alcohol related harms, including impaired driving,” said Eric Dumschat, Canada’s legal director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“So if the city is going to go ahead with this change, then we would want to see them take steps to help mitigate any impact. That can be extending transit hours, it could be promoting a designated driving program,” she said.

Naimi also nods to the concerns raised over late-night drinks equating to debauchery in the streets and “more alcohol-related phone calls.”

The Vancouver Police Department has said it is too early to discuss what procedures would be put in place should the extended hours be put into effect, but that it will provide input “from a public-safety perspective” before any changes are officially given the go ahead.

Sgt. Steve Addison said the Vancouver police already deploy extra officers to busy areas like Granville Street, Yaletown, and Gastown on weekend nights because of the large crowds those communities draw.

The officers provide “more visible police presence to help people feel safe, gang interdiction, impaired driving enforcement, and responding to alcohol and drug-related incidents,” he said.

“These incidents can range from people who are intoxicated to the point of being unable to care for themselves, to alcohol-fueled street fights and other violent crimes.”

Extra officers, who are often deployed on overtime, would be needed to work longer hours if the city’s proposal were to come into effect, likely resulting in a large budgetary impact on the VPD, he said.

“Extending business hours for food and liquor establishments is a step forward for sure,” says Wilbur, “but there are so many other issues at play, and this is a very small drop in a very big pool.”

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Abigail Turner