You may soon enjoy a glass of wine or a beer with your meal while sitting along main street.
Vernon council is supporting an application to the provincial Liquor Control and Licensing Branch so the Marten Brewing Company can serve alcohol within a sidewalk seating area when the Naked Pig BBQ restaurant opens on 30th Avenue.
“I’d like to see some action on that corner because it’s been dormant for some time,” said Coun. Catherine Lord of the building which has housed many businesses including Julia’s night club.
Mayor Rob Sawatzky says it’s not uncommon to find patios serving alcohol around the world.
“It’s really a great thing. It adds to the ambience of a community,” he said.
The owners of the Marten Brewing Company point out that sidewalk seating for restaurants exists in Vancouver and Kelowna.
“We will be investing a lot of money to improve the frontage of the building and are opening the indoors to the outdoors and sidewalk by adding a wall of large, sliding glass windows,” said Pearl Scott and Stefan Marten in a letter to the city.
“We have been informed that this is what Vernon would like to achieve, the visual openness of downtown business from the sidewalk. We are very concerned that if we do lease space from the city for the sidewalk seating, it will be extremely confusing and frustrating for customers to be able to order a meal on the sidewalk but not a glass of wine or a beer to go with it.”
A decision on the application must still be made by the provincial Liquor Control and Licensing Branch.
