The Beagle Pub is maintaining its outdoor space long after temporary implementation during the pandemic with a successful application to the City of Victoria.
“The patio not only helped us through the lockdowns but has had a positive impact on the pub, the staff and the village, therefore the neighbourhood, too,” owner Neil Baird wrote in the application.
The pub at 301 Cook St. recently successfully applied to license the existing 26-person boulevard patio area adjacent to Oxford Street. The patio was licensed in 2020 through the province’s Temporary Expanded Service Area program that expired at the end of 2024. It increases the total occupancy from 144 to 200 people for the interior and three outdoor patios, with a maximum of 80 licensed seats outside.
Baird also addressed a handful of opposition letters citing noise and parking as issues.
“We don't make noise and we have been accused of our patrons walking around at 3 a.m. when we are closed at midnight. In the past, we have hired an engineering company to take a decibel meter and measure the noise from The Beagle. The noise was indiscernible and could not be measured,” Baird wrote in a second letter.
As for parking, he noted that’s beyond their control.
“Often at 10 a.m., you will find our parking lot full yet we don't even open until 11 a.m. In the years of (pub) ownership, the village has lost over 80 per cent of its on-street parking due to council giving way to residential sentiment year over year. Thus, the pressure upon The Beagle to be the village parking solution has grown.”
Coun. Marg Gardiner cautioned the pub over a handful of letters, including from the landlord on behalf of tenants on Oxford. They’re those most affected by the more permanent conversion of the boulevard to patio seating she noted, looking to send a message to the applicant.
“Respect your neighbours and do what you can to lower your impact because the Beagle Pub is a valuable business in Cook Street Village and all of Fairfield,” she said. “The Beagle Pub almost defines the area now, that is not a reason to dismiss neighbours. These disturbances they have mentioned I think can be easily addressed.”
Council unanimously approved the licence.
