Back in October 2018, Burnaby council made a final decision to deny a hookah lounge’s appeal of a city closure order.
Pure Hookah Lounge on Hastings Street in the Heights had 119 noise complaints filed against it and the city had finally had enough. You can read about that case here.
Did that make the Heights a quieter place again? Not according a Heights resident named Stewart (he didn’t want his last name used due to fear of reprisals).
According to Stewart, there are still several hookah lounges just up the street that are offering up plenty of noise late at night.
“If you walk down Hastings Street on any evening between Wednesday and Sunday, you will get a completely different impression of the neighbourhood,” said Stewart. “Along the 4000 block of Hastings Street, you can hear continuous bass thumping, car tires screeching and the shouts of patrons as they leave the hookah lounges. The music from these lounges is so loud that you can hear it through double-pane glass in residences along Pender and Albert Streets.
"Opening under the guise of being restaurants, these hookah lounges operate as after-hours nightclubs, staying open as late as 5 a.m. on many evenings. The patrons often hang around outside the lounge or in the adjacent side streets until late in the night. They often arrive and leave by car, despite being drunk. Stand on Hastings Street for a while and you are guaranteed to see your fair share of drunk drivers leaving the clubs. Often you can see them pull risky U-turns in the middle of the street.”
These sound exactly like the complaints that were filed against Pure before the city shut it down.
Stewart would like to see the City of Burnaby investigate and the RCMP to step up enforcement in the area late at night. He says he has filed multiple complaints, so we shall see what happens.
The city took action once before so it makes sense that they might take action again.
In case you are wondering why I am not offering the side of the hookah lounge owners, I have tried in the past to speak with several of them. I’ve called and left messages and handed out my business card to get to know more about their businesses.
None have returned my calls. I have also decided to not list their business names. I’m simply sharing the concerns of a resident living down the street from one business that was shut down for the same complaints.
Hopefully the city takes this seriously.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
