509 replies to this topic

[amor de cosmos]

Residents urge Victoria council to halt downtown pub expansion
Bill Cleverley / Times Colonist
May 15, 2014 09:47 PM

A proposal to expand the seating capacity at a downtown Victoria pub isn’t sitting well with some nearby highrise condo residents who say drunks spilling onto the streets at night are already causing headaches.

The complaints prompted Victoria councillors to delay deciding on an application from owners of the former Executive House Hotel to expand Bartholomew’s Pub in the hope hotel management will meet with area residents to try to find a way to ease their concerns.

Some councillors mused about identifying certain precincts downtown to try to create separation between residential and entertainment areas.

“We want people living downtown and we want the downtown to be a centre of regional entertainment. Clearly, we’re getting conflicts,” said Coun. Geoff Young. “I don’t know whether we have to start thinking about zones in the downtown that are primarily focused on one function or the other. … With [Humboldt Valley’s] increased residential occupancy now, people are hoping that that is a bit of a quieter zone.”

Coun. Ben Isitt agreed an entertainment district or a couple of non-residential blocks might be a good idea. Isitt and a number of other councillors also wondered if some issues experienced by people living in The Falls building might be attributed to patrons of the Strathcona Hotel, which has more than 1,200 licensed seats.

http://www.timescolo...nsion-1.1063709

[Mike K.]

Pubs exist there for decades. New condo goes up. Now City Hall is wasting resources trying to appease concerns from newly buult residential units.

What's wrong with this picture?

If anyone looking to buy a home in the Falls would spend one evening eyeing the properties adjacent to the building they would see how rowdy the area gets. Just like the complainants in the Songhees who don't like float planes, tough luck.

[Mr Cook Street]

Time to write a letter to council to level even out the feedback a little bit. I think its great that a business wants to expand (gasp!).

[tedward]

Agree with the comments above, like Songhees residents whining about float planes their complaints should be dismissed out of hand.

What makes me shake my head is the notion that somehow limiting the seating capacity of this one pub will make a significant difference? So what if a few more people can sit down and enjoy a drink? Will they really make that much more noise?

[spanky123]

^ Agree with the comment that the pub was there before the Falls but it is a different downtown crowd then it was 10-15 years ago. I remember the bar scene as being loud and rambunctious but fairly orderly and non-violent. It seems nowadays though that it is a much tougher and shadier crowd with a lot more fighting and drug activity.

[Mike K.]

Oh come now, "back in my day..." Things have gotten BETTER over the last 15 years. Waaaaaay better. Remember the dive bars that attracted all sorts of seedy types? Those are all gone. And gone are roving groups of punks looking to pick fights, that just doesn't happen nearly as often with the advent of cellphone cameras. Bar Watch has also helped curb over serving and keeps known criminals out of our clubs and bars and therefore out of trouble.

But what we're seeing are bars filled with more people because as the city grew and cruise ships began arriving in greater numbers the bar scene wasn't allowed to keep pace. Now every bar is literally at capacity come 11 and the City's silly solution is to clamp down further? This is all such nonsense for a city our elected officials love to tout at "world class."

[ZGsta]

^ Agree with the comment that the pub was there before the Falls but it is a different downtown crowd then it was 10-15 years ago. I remember the bar scene as being loud and rambunctious but fairly orderly and non-violent. It seems nowadays though that it is a much tougher and shadier crowd with a lot more fighting and drug activity.

 

That is absolutely complete BS. I don't know if you go out much but, as Mike just said, things have gotten so SO much better over the last 10-15 years.

[amor de cosmos]

Revisions to B.C. liquor laws now allow promotional alcohol pricing including happy hour, let minors accompany adults into pubs, and allow alcohol sales in grocery stores and farmers markets.

Six Mile Pub owner David Wong said the changes are a welcome relaxation of the regulations that will help his small business attract more customers, especially during traditionally quieter times.

“I think it offers us an opportunity to use it as a tool to build business during slower periods of the day. Every restaurant has a mid-afternoon and late evening where there is a bit of a lull,” he said. “Rather than have staff standing around let’s keep everyone busy. It gives us flexibility and lower prices during slower times and offers a deal for the consumer. It is a win-win for all.”

The changes do have what some may see as disadvantages however, with the traditionally cost-effective pitchers of beer now subject to a 25-cent-per-ounce minimum charge. That effectively raises the price of pitchers on average instead of reducing them.

That, Wong said, would just even the playing field between establishments that lower their prices too much and those that do not. He envisions happy hour as an opportunity to offer cheaper drinks, but plans to only showcase local products during the 3 to 6 p.m. time slot, as a way to introduce his customers to new options.

“It is not an opportunity to say ‘let’s have a happy hour, have it crazy cheap and drink till you pass out. That is not the opportunity I see.”

http://www.vicnews.c.../264831261.html

[Mike K.]

The Irish Times has listed Irish Times as one of the world's top-10 Irish pubs outside of Ireland. http://www.irishtime...eland-1.2139017

[aastra]

 

The Irish Times, Vancouver Island, Canada

 

Seriously, what the hell is going on? Vancouver Island? I'm reading Yelp reviews and some reviewers are from "Capital Regional District", an utterly meaningless designation not just for the general reader but even for Victorians themselves. I just can't believe that this peculiar de-emphasis of "Victoria" is an accident. It's just too weird, and it's also such a recent phenomenon. I've said it before, I'll say it again: Victoria's tourism authorities need to kill this bizarre thing before it gets out of hand. It creates confusion, it weakens Victoria's brand, and it serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Stop it.

[Mike K.]

Many visitors view Vancouver Island as a tiny little blip on the left coast of Canada. They don't realize the sheer scale of Vancouver Island and just assume we're like Oahu or Maui and can be circumvented in a matter of hours, with lunch.

[aastra]

As coincidence would have it, some pedantic a***hole has posted a comment to this effect.

[aastra]

I don't buy that. Wherever people go, they always think in terms of cities and towns. Unless you're at an isolated resort on some tiny tropical island that doesn't have any identifiable cities or towns, you always think in terms of cities and towns. Crikey, Tofino is and will always be Tofino. Only Victoria has this issue, and it's a very, very new issue. Somebody's driving it one way or another, either intentionally or inadvertently.

[Mike K.]

Not unless those cities happen to be on islands.

 

Can you name the big city on Madagascar? Sicily? Fiji? Cyprus? Puerto Rico?

[aastra]

Yes, I can. But what are you saying? You're saying the Irish pub in Brooklyn is located on Long Island? So why did they say it was located in Brooklyn?

 

How about Cuba? How about Jamaica? How about Haiti or the Dominican Republic? How about Taiwan? How about Newfoundland? How about Ireland? How about Britain? How about Tasmania? Or the islands of New Zealand? Or old Zealand? Or the islands of Japan? Or the islands of Indonesia? You'd just do away with the formalities of cities and towns in those places?

 

You haven't been this wrong since that debacle way back re: misidentified power tools. How many people have to get hurt this time?

[Mike K.]

We're no Brooklyn.

 

Who cares whether some magazine somewhere refers to us as Vancouver Island. Big deal.

[aastra]

Dude, what happened to you?

[Mike K.]

Is being referred to as Vancouver Island really that big a deal? Let's just be glad we're getting a little bit of international recognition.

[aastra]

I care, because it's absolutely stupid and it makes no sense. The @$^%$&#*! Irish Times pub is in Victoria. And you know it is. Your website isn't called vibrantvanisle.ca.

 

 

We're no Brooklyn.

 

So Brooklyn is worthy of being distinguished from the other boroughs of New York or from the entirety of Long Island but Victoria is not worthy of being distinguished from the entirety of Vancouver Island? Maybe we're no St. John's either? Because St. John's would surely be worthy of being distinguished from the entirety of Newfoundland?

 

I need to cool off and go build a table or something.

[Greg]

Who cares whether some magazine somewhere refers to us as Vancouver Island. Big deal.

 

No reason to care at all. Unless, you know, the local economy derives a substantial portion of revenue from tourism, and local businesses contribute regularly to tourism advertising for the area and for building an identifiable brand. Because in that case it would be really dumb to just accept it.