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Vancouver Is Finally Getting Beer Gardens On The Beach For Outdoor Drinking

Vancouver beaches

Photo: waughrodney / Instagram

There’s something relaxing about enjoying a cold one on the beach.

Under current laws in Vancouver, anyone caught drinking in public can get slapped with a whopping $230 fine. The tides however, are about to turn.

On Monday, the Vancouver Park Board finally approved a new Concession Strategy. This includes a two year pilot program to allow liquor sales at the English Bay and Kitsilano Beach concession stands from May through September.

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Given a lot of beach goers “secretly” drink anyways, the move is designed to provide an area to legally do so, as well as help nearby condo-dwellers enjoy their backyard.

According to Park Board Commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung, the pilot project in these two areas will allow the board to assess the feasibility of selling booze at other locations in the next three to five years.

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Vancouver Beaches Pilot Program

The two locations selected already have restaurant concessions – Cactus Restaurants at English Bay and The Boathouse at Kitsilano Beach – and can help the program take off.

The pilot program at both beaches will operate like a beer garden.

A part of the beach at English Bay beside the public walkway would be sectioned off with rope. At Kitsilano Beach, a small patio will be added outside the concession.

The Park board predicts the pilot program could increase sales by 30 to 50 per cent from alcohol alone.

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