Downtown Sechelt has lost its only bar.
The final round of drinks was served at Gilligans Pub Wednesday night.
After 34 years of burgers, beer and charity meat draws, the owners have sold the building to Trail Bay Properties, the company that owns the neighbouring Trail Bay Centre.
Brian Inkster of Gilligans said the business landscape for pubs and bars has changed, making it harder to turn a profit, and he and the other family members involved in the business decided it’s the right time to look at doing something different.
“We’d like to thank everybody for their patronage over the last 34 years,” Inkster said. “Now it’s time to move on.”
But moving on doesn’t mean getting completely out of the liquor business. Inkster said the Gilligans retail outlet will remain open, and they’ve applied to the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch to move to a new location in Wilson Creek.
Inkster said private liquor stores are still a thriving business. “They sometimes keep the bars alive.”
Sechelt council endorsed the Gilligans application at its March 7 meeting. A planning department report said having a liquor store at the Wilson Creek Plaza would fill a vacant storefront, “serve residents and visitors from Roberts Creek to downtown Sechelt and beyond,” and fit the site’s Official Community Plan designation as a “regional commercial” hub.
The details of the move are still being finalized, and in the meantime the store will keep operating at its current location.
Inkster said a March 24 farewell celebration at the pub drew a big crowd.
“It was really good. We saw a lot of people we haven’t seen for a long time. If everything went the way it went the last couple of weeks, we wouldn’t be doing this,” he joked.
“People don’t go out as much as they used to, but I guess coming to the end of an era they thought they might get out a little bit.”
Trail Bay Properties has not yet revealed its plans for the Gilligans building.
