Wine and beer could be on tap at New West’s Massey Theatre by the fall

Imagine enjoying some craft beer, cider or even a glass of red or white before you sit down to watch a play, have a laugh during a comedy show, or take in a musical performance at the Massey.

The theatre is very close to making that dream a reality, as it waits to hear back from the province on its application to serve booze, having put the application in in late April. It’s anticipating a green-light from the BC Government sometime in September. 

The application is for a liquor primary licence, which would allow the entire building to be licenced. One of the final steps in this process recently involved city council amending a bylaw that officially allows the land the Massey is on to be licenced. 

“When the facility was owned by the school district, that wasn’t an option. You could get special occasion permits and things like that. But now, you know, two things: do we have a long-term future? And the second thing is, do we have a landlord arrangement that is supportive of developing new revenue streams and new kinds of social activities?” says Jessica Schneider, the executive director of Massey Theatre. 

Schneider says it’s only natural that the parameters of the theatre evolve, just as the community has. 

“I spent most of [my 16 years with Massey] monitoring the political shifts in the community just to make sure this facility was going to be valued. It’s very, very active, and people don’t realize how active it is. It’s a super busy venue, it always was, and now so even more.”

While the venue is a space that is meant for everyone in the community, Schneider says there will be precautions in place to ensure that remains the case. 

“We’ll be able to open the taps or pour the wine whenever, but we also have values [because] we don’t want it to feel less safe for people in recovery, or for families, and we do have a lot of mixed events where all ages are there,” says Schneider, who notes that could be done by having one dry night a week. “We’re still having those conversations. It’s not to change the vibe, it’s just to make it possible.”

Schneider says they’re still working on some of the details – for instance, whether they want to allow people to bring their beverage into the seats. “We’ve got the original seats still in the theatre, so we don’t want to do any real damage to it,” she says. 

As for the kinds of drinks you can enjoy, Massey Theatre says they’re open to different partnerships. “We’ve definitely gotten in touch with [local breweries], but I think we’ll be doing a call-out for partnerships. That’s how we’ve been doing everything, and this won’t be any different,” notes Schneider. 

“Our number one goal is community. If you think about the size of this building, it’s over 50,000 square feet. It’s right in the middle of the city, and every neighbourhood can access it quite easily,” says Schneider. “I just want the community to know that we’re not changing everything. This is just to kind of augment and add; we will continue to be responsible and respectful of the neighbourhood, and of our relationship to the school campus, as well.”