The face of downtown Halifax is changing when it comes to popular night clubs.
A major renovation is changing the once popular club, “The Palace” into a sports bar and part of the ever popular-Dome is becoming a pub.
It appears, the habits of Haligonians are causing the change.
“There was tens of thousands of people walking around downtown on a Saturday night from one to 3 in the morning,” says bar owner Michel Khoury. “Now it’s half that.”
Khoury adds the recent renovations to The Palace were a move the industry needed.
“There is a change with the students coming out the way they spend money and drink,” he explains. “You know, tuition is going up, and expenses are going up, and it’s just not as easy to go out anymore.”
“That’s the first step, bring people downtown,” exclaims Khoury. “How do you bring them downtown? Change concepts.”
The owner of The Dome was unavailable for an interview but he told CTV News the change to the night club was because of popular demand and he wanted to move toward food and not just the beer.
“The demographic is not people from Nova Scotia that are 19 just coming to Halifax,” explains Paul MacKinnon of the Downtown Business Commission. “Perhaps that’s where you got a lot more of the drinking, with that demographic shift you’re getting more deposable income if they’re older and they’ve been in the workforce for a while.”
Halifax Regional Police are welcoming the changes because they will help combat binge drinking.
“It’s been well documented that we have a significant strategy involving after hours binge drinking in the late night hours in the downtown core,” says Superintendent Robin MacNeil.
Joe McGuiness has owned a successful pub for 4 years and says the Nova Centre is also helping the change.
“It’s an opportunity for a lot of us to support that development and create a vibrant downtown,” says McGuiness. “Maybe that’s the reason you see people moving to better dining experience with an emphasis on food.”
It’s all reasons bar owner Michel Khoury agrees with.
“You go with the flow, with what’s working and change is good!”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Gena Holley
