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Saanich’s Red Lion Inn receives council’s blessing for extended liquor hours

Extension comes more than two years after a major fire
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More than two years after a March 2017 fire caused more than $150,000 in damages, the Red Lion Inn received council’s blessing to extend its liquor service. Final approval by the provincial government is pending. (Black Press File).

A landmark business in Saanich has received council’s blessing to extend its alcohol serving hours.

Last week Saanich council passed a resolution in favour of longer serving hours at the Red Lion Inn on Douglas Street.

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If final approval is granted by the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch (LCRB), the business would extend Red Lion Inn’s liquor service to 2 a.m. seven days of the week.

Current liquor operation hours are 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on Sundays.

Council signed off on the extension after Saanich’s director of planning Sharon Hvozdanski recommended approval.

READ ALSO: Former manager gets suspended sentence for Red Lion stabbing incident

“There would be no significant change to business operations, no increase in licensed capacity or occupant load, and impacts on the surrounding neighbourhood are expected to be minimal,” she said in her report, which also says that Mount View Colquitz Community Association, as well as local emergency authorities (police, fire) have not objected to the extension.

The Red Lion Inn suffered fire damage in March 2017 estimated at around $150,000. In April 2014, former Red Lion manager Zhi Wei “Wally” Meng pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for attacking five five different staff members with scissors in November 2012.

In November 2001, a fire destroyed the business beyond repair, but it was later rebuilt.


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wolfgang.depner@saanichnews.com



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
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