Why some bars and most breweries close early in downtown Kelowna
It’s 10:30 p.m. and the night feels young inside one of Kelowna’s charming breweries, but your hope of painting the town red is dashed by last call.
That’s a pretty common experience for folks who aren’t familiar with Kelowna’s nightlife or the few places that keep pouring drinks into the wee hours of the morning.
Recent university graduate and Kelowna local Fred Thacker said for university students, or just anyone who likes a night out on the dance floor, there are two popular choices, The Corral or Distrikt.
“I think it's nice that there are limited options sometimes, because you end up seeing the same people,” he said. “It fosters a sense of community somewhat, in that I feel safe in these spaces, because usually I'm familiar with people, but if you don't vibe with the vibe, then you’re screwed.”
In the days gone by there used to be more choices in the city.
“When my parents were going out, there were four or five options,” he said. “I don't know if you could open more now because of the impact COVID had. Financially, I don't know how many people can afford to just start a nightclub ... The difference, too, is that there's a lot of breweries.”
Some bar and brewery owners are limited by the liquor licenses that don’t allow them to stay open, but some have found that the early evening and family-friendly crowd is less hassle and better for business.
Adam Semeniuk owns Red Bird Brewing just a few blocks outside of the downtown core on Richter Street and he said that the city rarely supports new liquor licenses that allow venues to stay open past midnight outside of the downtown core. There are over half a dozen breweries within a few minutes walk of Red Bird Brewing.
“All those rules, they're in place to help the city councillors plan and design the city. So I don't know if there's ever going to be much movement on that, but I do know that in this area they've never approved, as far as I know, anything past midnight,” Semeniuk said.
He said the rules and regulations for bars and breweries can be tricky to navigate, it just takes some research to make sure your business plan fits into the rules.
“I can't say that we've had a hard time with it because we knew the rules going in,” he said. “We just play within the rules that were given and use every tool we have at our disposal to make a great time for people.”
Liquor licenses are regulated by the Provincial Liquor and Licensing Branch, but municipalities often have input depending on the situation. Kelowna city council can decide to support or object to a license amendment. For example, if a bar wants to stay open later at night the city has input. The RCMP also gets input if a bar wants to change its hours.
Red Bird is open for lunch and has a range of events from free concerts to cribbage tournaments with the goal of appealing to a broad customer base, rather than focusing on a rowdier late-night crowd.
Semeniuk said in Red Bird’s case the liquor licensing laws aren’t what prevent them from staying open late.
“I don't know if you've heard nothing good happens past midnight. It kind of rings true. When we start hitting around 11:15 p.m. and we're doing our last calls, it's about the end of where you want to start dealing with people that have been drinking or the style of behaviour of people that want to be out past midnight.”
Avoiding calls to police and ambulances because of fights or drug use is an appealing aspect of closing early for Semeniuk.
“We don't have to call the police often here because we don't go past midnight. If you start going past midnight, you'll notice way more fights,” he said. “Going from serving people till 11 p.m. to serving people till 1 a.m. It's two different audiences. It's two different businesses. And it's not something we're interested in, especially as we've always kind of grown in the direction of being family-friendly.”
The founder of nearby Jackknife Brewing, Brad Tomlinson, also said it isn’t worth staying open late. Jackknife is an edgier brew pub that is known for weird beer, classic pizza and live music.
In an email, he said his licence allows him to serve beer up to 11:30 p.m.
“By the time we hit 10 p.m. around here on the weekend, we're seeing people that are ending their night or are looking to keep raging. I'd rather cut our staff early and let them have a chill night at that point,” he said.
Semeniuk said running a nightclub that stays open until 2 a.m. takes a bigger team due to the increase in security and it can be difficult since their customer base only comes out a few nights a week, but there are still upsides.
“They're hitting like highballs or like things you can drink fast, which you have a better margin on,” he said. “But it does come with its own hassle ... They have big teams and they've been doing it for a long time. I think there's good money in it.”
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