Frances Bula
Sun
VANCOUVER – City bar owners have agreed to roll back their late-night closings from 4 a.m. to 3 a.m. to try to eliminate problems caused by people driving in from the suburbs to put in an extra two extra hours’ drinking time.
John Teti, president of BarWatch, said the 21 clubs that currently have licenses allowing them to stay open until 4 a.m. have agreed to new licences that will cut an hour off the time. The new hours will probably go into effect the weekend after next, he said.
However, BarWatch and the city have agreed that the bylaw will not be changed so that the licences for 4 a.m. closings could be restored at some later date.
Councillor Tim Stevenson, who has been working closely with the bar owners on the issue, said it’s time to re-assess the experiment.
“We think it’s necessary now to move back to 3 because of the young people coming in from the suburbs. If bars close at 3, those people probably won’t come in because it won’t be worth it for only an hour.”
There has been a significant increase in incidents of fighting and violence since the city started allowing the 4 a.m. bar closings last summer. Stevenson and Teti said the problem partly stems from the fact that a lot of people pour into the downtown after 2 a.m., when suburban bars close, to continue drinking in Vancouver.
Bar owners have been working to find ways to contain the problem by introducing metal and identity checks at bars and hiring private security guards.
Teti said things have been improving in the last three to four weeks, as private security firms have imposed more order. But he thinks it’s time to retrench a little.
“We don’t want to lose the 4 o’clock possibility. So if we have to take a step backwards to take two steps forward, that’s okay.”
He’s hoping that once police are up to full staffing and all bars have introduced new security measures, those who want to will be able to move back to 4 a.m. closings.
In the meantime, he says that everyone will be at 3 a.m., at least for the summer.
© The Vancouver Sun 2004
