Vancouver to Extend Drinking Hours

Vancouver bars and nightclubs can extend serving drinks 

Vancouver city council has approved extending business hours of bars and pubs to as late as 4am. It is not just limited to the downtown core, but to the City of Vancouver, and business owners are elated.

These businesses can apply to extend its hours; not all bars and pubs need to do this, only if they think they can make more money from it. There are 209 licensed bars and nightclubs in Vancouver.

"This is changing the perception of 'liquor primary license" to 'vibrant gathering places' for communities to meet in real life," said Cameron Bogue, owner-operator of Mount Pleasant Vintage and Provisions, a cocktail bar disguised as a thrift shop.

Will there be an uptick in alcohol sales?

"I've opened one of the most successful restaurants in the city, with staggering year-over-year growth, because we're providing [what] the community wants -- a place to socialise, rub elbows, simply stand with a drink and dance where they can meet people in an engaging high-volume cocktail bar."

Not everyone is for longer hours for drinking, like Mark Lysyshyn, medical health officer, Vancouver Coastal Health.

"Increasing alcohol consumption into the late night or early morning hours is particularly risky, and the risk increases as you get later in the evening," he said.

"It's not so much that more people drink into the evening -- it's just the type of drinking that's done in that timeframe is more risky, it's more likely to result in problems," he said, referring to a risk of injuries, violence and the potential for harm to others compared to allowing earlier opening hours.

It seems counterintuitive to the trends of alcohol consumption and partying habits these days. Gen Z are drinking much less alcohol than previous generations, and people in their 30s and 40s would prefer to party during the day (again with less alcohol) than at night. 

Perhaps bar and pub owners are hoping longer hours will lead to more business? It's probably marginal. 

It'll be interesting to see how many bars actually apply and report back the increase in alcohol sales, and how many more incidents the Vancouver Police report in the wee hours...