MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Council May 26th, 1977

FROM: Planning and Zoning Committee

Re: Public Meeting - Neighbourhood Pubs

A Public Information Meeting was held on Wednesday, May 18th, 1977 at
Birchland Elementary School on the subject of Neighbourhood Pubs. The
meeting was chaired by Alderman Laking and was attended by approximately
100 people.

The meeting was called for Public Information and to get feed-back from
the local residents on their attitudes towards the establishment of a
Pub in the area, in view of the fact that Council had received two
applications for neighbourhood pubs in the Coast Meridian ~ Prairie Road
intersection area.

Nearly all the people in attendance lived within a six block radius of
the Northside Shopping Centre, although representatives were also in
attendance from the Hotel, Restaurant, Culinary and Bartenders' Union;
the owners of the Golden Ears Hotel and the Commercial Hotel; and Mr.
Tom Hammond, representing the B.C. Pub Owners' Association.

The Hotel Owners and Union representatives spoke in opposition to the
establishment of Pubs, pointing out that they are causing a decline in
the number of persons employed in hotels and that the Pubs are unfair
competition in that they have a small investment whereas a hotel is
required to maintain a large investment with rooms to accommodate visitors,
as well as to having to devote a certain amount of floor area to eating
facilities, separate from the beer parlour or lounge facilities. They
also pointed out that the hotels employed Union help exclusively whereas
the neighbourhood pubs, in many cases, pay less than Union wages, and
also that the Hotels in Port Coquitlam have large payrolls and pay high
taxes and that this would not be the case for a Pub.

Mr. Hammond of the B.C. Pub Owners‘ Association, answered many enquiries
from the residents regarding the operation of neighbourhood pubs and
made the point that these types of facilities are entirely different
from, and cannot be compared to, hotel facilities. He pointed out that
while there is a regulation that a neighbourhood pub must be a mile from
a licenced hotel premise, there is no'such requirement for a hotel and a
hotel can establish right adjacent to an existing neighbourbood pub and
qualify for a licence. He also pointed out that under the present
regulations, existing hotel. beer parlour facilities can be converted to
a neighbourhood pub by upgrading their facility to meet the neighbourhood
standards, ,

Mr. D. Barnett, 2925 Sandlewood Street, expressed his opposition and asked
in what way the establishment of a Pub would improve the neighbourhood. :

Mr. Bob Smith, 3263 Ulster Street, expressed his opposition and commented
that he could not see that neighbourhood pubs were the answer in trying
to change Canadian drinking habits, that the typical North American home