Liquor hours engagement report
Thank you to the 3,798 people who provided feedback on the City’s proposed changes to liquor hours. We have compiled feedback in our engagement report (PDF, 5 MB, English only).
A summary of the engagement report is included below.
Summary of engagement report
Downtown hours
Currently, the latest closing hours in Downtown range from 1 am to 3 am, depending on the area. Businesses may choose to close earlier. The City is considering changes to allow 3 am to be the latest closing time in all areas Downtown.
In the survey, 71% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with 3 am being the latest closing time allowed for all bars, pubs and nightclubs Downtown every day of the week.
Outside Downtown hours
The survey asked respondents to rank four options for the hours of bars and pubs located outside of Downtown.
- Keep current hours (2 am on weekends, 1 am on weeknights)
- Extend weekday hours only (2 am seven days a week)
- Extend weekend hours only (3 am on weekends, 1 am on weeknights)
- Extend all hours to be the same as the latest Downtown closing hours (3 am seven days a week)
The option that received the most support was to extend all hours to be the same as the latest Downtown closing hours. Sixty-four per cent of respondents selected this as their first choice.
Seventeen per cent of respondents selected the option to keep current hours as their first choice, with 64% selecting this as their last choice.
Concerns
The survey invited respondents to select up to three concerns regarding later closing hours for bars, pubs and nightclubs. The top concern was lack of late-night transportation options (2,169 respondents). The second most common response was that respondents had no concerns (1,391 respondents). In descending order, other concerns were: public safety (997 respondents), noise and nuisance (974 respondents), health risks associated with alcohol (451 respondents), availability of on-street parking (134 respondents) and other (107 respondents).
Benefits
Respondents were asked to select up to three most appealing benefits of later closing hours for bars, pubs and nightclubs. In order from most popular to least popular, they were:
- Neighbourhood vibrancy (2,730 responses)
- Supports local economy (2,346 responses)
- More opportunities for businesses (2,315 responses)
- Late-night options closer to home (2,098 responses)
- No benefits (415 responses)
- Other (98 responses)
Liquor service hours in restaurants
Currently, the latest that restaurants can serve alcohol to customers is:
- 1 am on weeknights (Sunday to Thursday)
- 2 am on weekends (Friday and Saturday)
The City is considering a change to allow restaurants to serve alcohol until 2 am all days of the week.
A significant majority of respondents (83%) agreed or strongly agreed with restaurants being allowed to serve alcohol until 2 am any night of the week.
Next steps
The results of this engagement, as well as the feedback from the industry and stakeholders, were taken into consideration for options development, analysis and recommendations to Council.
Staff will bring forward recommendations to Council in July 2025 and share with the public.
