Vancouver bar fined $3K for not clearing half-empty drinks 42 minutes after last call

A glass of beer.

A bar on Vancouver’s Granville Strip has been fined $3,000 after inspectors allegedly caught two patrons with half-empty drinks 42 minutes after last call.

The two inspectors visited The Heaven one weekend last summer after 2:30 a.m., and through the windows spotted a man and woman who “appeared to be consuming beverages,” according to a recent decision from B.C.‘s Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch.

The inspectors approached the table around 2:42 a.m. and found “one cocktail glass and one glass with amber-coloured beverage consistent with draft beer, approximately half full,” the decision reads.

The latter was later determined to be Okanagan 1516, the house lager. The decision does not specify what was in the cocktail glass.

Under the terms of The Heaven’s food-primary liquor licence, staff are allowed to sell alcohol until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays – but must remove any remaining glasses from the tables within 30 minutes of last call.

The Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch found employees were 12 minutes too late in doing so, and issued a $3,000 fine against the establishment, payable by Feb. 15.

The owner of The Heaven did not submit any evidence when the matter was decided at a Jan. 6 hearing.

The bar could have faced a stiffer penalty – including a licence suspension – but the decision noted there was no record of previous contraventions at The Heaven in the two years leading up to last summer’s incident.

“The branch’s main objective in imposing a penalty is not to punish a licensee, but to achieve compliance with the regulatory scheme by both this licensee and all other licensees,” the decision reads.

“Patrons who consume liquor and leave an establishment after the licensed hours of liquor service may disturb nearby residents and businesses. Selling liquor after hours also leads to unfair competition with other licensed establishments.”