Roxy's liquor licence bid goes to public hearing
By Carla Wilson, Times Colonist; With files from Michael D. Reid October 10, 2012
Victoria residents will get a chance to have their say on the Roxy Classic Theatre's bid to serve liquor at its Quadra Street location.
Vogue Amusements Ltd., operating as the Roxy, has applied for a liquor primary licence. Victoria councillors voted last week to hold a public hearing on the issue. Until last April, B.C. movie theatres were not allowed to apply for a licence to serve alcohol - a rule that Roxy owner Michael Sharpe called "archaic."
Under the Roxy's application, the maximum hours of liquor service would be from 5 p.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday, and 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Actual hours would vary because liquor service would be permitted between one hour before and one hour after a movie or event under this application, a city staff report said.
However, council is also looking into whether those suggested hours can be tightened up. "We're prepared to move forward with the application to a public hearing based on liquor service seven days a week, no later than 11 p.m.," Rob Woodland, the city's director of legislative and regulatory services, said Tuesday. "Mr. Sharpe has advised he is amenable to that change in his licence application. He had requested hours that were a bit later."
I hate the fact that a compromise is already called for, but this might be a reasonable first step. For live events, it means it does not become a de facto 447-person nightclub, with a 1am closing (Shark Club and Logan's close at 1am). What it becomes is a licensed live music sit-down venue like the Royal Theatre (which is licensed for all seats) but with what can only be presumed to be a much lower cost structure (rental) for live acts. Many people dislike going to nightclubs to see live acts as they never know if they may have to stand, or have seats with a poor view. Presumably, Mike can even have reserved seating for live acts if he works the ticketing that way. Which is probably easy now with online ticketing systems.
Councillors want to know if it is possible to stipulate liquor service wrap up one hour before the end of a movie or event, Coun. Pamela Madoff said. "The concern being, the movie's finished, [theatregoers] are sitting around in their theatre seat drinking for an hour and spilling out onto the street."
The Roxy's capacity is 447 people.
I don't know about this. They don't turn off the taps at the end of the second period when I'm watching a game at the Shark Club. And we don't always "spill out".