Loyalist College’s pub is now selling alcohol during the day

The Shark Tank Pub just before opening to serve alcohol during the school day. Photo by Logan Somers, QNet News

By Logan Somers

BELLEVILLE – Students at Loyalist College will now be able to purchase alcohol at the college’s Shark Tank Pub during class hours.

Starting Sept. 4, from noon to 3 p.m. the pub will have a day bar opened to all legally-aged students, who are 19 years old and up.

Lara Charette, Shark Tank Pub manager, said the decision was made to implement a daytime bar because of past success and rising numbers of students asking for it.

“I worked here about 11 years ago as a bartender and we had a day bar all the time then,” she said,

The service was stopped due to a change in demographics, she said and students then lost interest and preferred a pub night. In 2009, the Ontario government eliminated Grade 13, resulting in younger students attending colleges and universities.

The demographic change that happened then is happing again now, Charette said. However, it’s changing in favour of the day time bar.

“We have seen a demographic switch and were getting a crowd of people asking for it,” she said.

More older students were asking for there to be a day bar, she said in a email. Charette added that the staff have notice that during the day the majority of the students using the day bar are older, and more younger students are going to pub nights.

“The daytime service is allowing us to offer the pub space to a different market among the students,” Charette said in a email.

Since the opening of the day bar, Charette said, it’s definitely ramping up. She expects more students to use it as the year goes on.

Although, even with many students enjoying the opening of the day bar some students have concerns.

A poll that was held on a Facebook group for Loyalist students called Accepted: Loyalist shows some students don’t believe it’s a good idea.

The poll held in Accepted: Loyalist. Photo by Logan Somers, QNet News

Seventeen out of the 33 students who participated in the poll voted that they believe a day bar is a bad idea. Many commented on their concerns in the comment section of the poll.

One concern raised in the comments was that students who attend Loyalist College during the day are here to learn not to drink and that mixing alcohol with education and work is a bad idea. Many also expressed that they believed pub nights, an event for students that use to take place on Thursdays, was moved to Fridays to help prevent students from drinking during the school week, and having a day bar is counterproductive.

Elizabeth Hilts, a Loyalist College student currently taking Film and TV shared is also worried.

“Lots of students drive to school, so this might raise the possibility of drinking and driving,” Hilts said.

Charette said the pub staff is keeping an eye out to avoid this problem.

“We definitely want to look out for signs of intoxication, even before they come to the bar,” she added.

She also added that the bar has implemented a two-drink limit during the day time bar hours.

As shown in the poll many students do have their concerns, but just as many believe the opposite. Sixteen out of the 33 students in the poll voted that they believe a day time bar is a good idea.

Matthew Weeks a Loyalist college student taking Film and TV production believes a day time bar will, “help with business and keep people coming to the pub.”

When asked about his view on the concerns being raised, he said, “I think there’s always going to be people that misuse whatever they sell.”

The day bar has only been open for a couple of weeks now, and the concerns being raised by students have yet to happen. The main question now is if these concerns will become a reality as time goes on.

Resto 213, a restaurant operated as part of the college’s culinary program, has offered alcohol with its lunch and dinner service for some years, Charette said.