Most of y’all have heard by last Friday that the Koerner’s Pub liquor license has been suspended by the UBC Treasury/Legal departments. In response, Koerner’s still has its doors open, but the taps are dry.
According to a memo, the license was suspended because of two incidents this month. The first incident, a drunk underaged youngster fell off a roof overhang and was hospitalized. The second, someone drunk yelled at some cops.
The RCMP informed the liquor control board, but UBC closed the spigot prior to hearing back.
This is one small step in what has been a two-year-long skirmish between authorities and the Pub’s management. In 2008, underage service was discovered. In 2009, a similar violation was found. You might have noticed the response of that guy from the external security company and the frankly outrageous bulletins threatening to expel underage/drunk students under non-academic discipline.
Our thoughts? Given the GSS Executive historically doesn’t seem to care much about liquor, or even its own pub, there’s strong precedent for not acting on this. If anything, this could be further fuel for the GSS to throw their hands in the air, claim the pub is too much of a liability, and use it as grounds to close the place for good. In an email to their council, the new executive seems to be pro-pub, but we’ll have to see how that manifests.
On the whole, people seem to like Koerners, and the GSS is accountable to students. If you’re mad about how bad that dreamboat on the acoustic guitar was tonight compared to every other night (and trust us; he didn’t get worse), we suggest letting the GSS Executive and Council know.