Owners of 'Phat Sports Bar' say they were 'pushed out' by building strata

Jul 25 2019, 2:09 am

It’s not uncommon to hear about a handful of Vancouver restaurant closures each month, but when the establishment has plans to relocate or renovate, it, of course, makes things easier for patrons who love these spots.

See also

Phat Sports Lounge in Yaletown was one of those places, or so we thought.

Closing quietly back in the spring of 2019, Phat’s owners told Daily Hive they had plans for a major renovation and rebrand under the name Brick Yards Public Eatery.

Now just over four months after revealing their plans for the 1055 Mainland Street space, the Phat team has announced they made a decision to halt, and not move forward with the planned renovation.

In a lengthy statement, ownership revealed that due to a lengthy five-year back and forth with the building strata, the team will be stopping the project.

“The long and the short of it is that we were pushed out,” read the statement, which went on to also thank loyal patrons and recall some fond memories of the Yaletown bar.

Phats

Photo: Daily Hive

Read the full message announcing the decision to stop the renovation.

It is with a heavy heart I must announce recently, Al, Paulina & myself, along with the support of our families, made the difficult decision not to move forward with our PHAT renovation. For the last 5 years, we have fought tirelessly with our building strata, & they finally won. There will be lots of questions, & you deserve answers, but honestly, the thought of explaining the bizarre web we were in is a disheartening, stressful task. It’s a long, intricate & complicated story & we wish it was more black & white for the sake of explanation, so I ask for trust that this was our only option. The long and the short of it is that we were pushed out.

Now, thank you to our friends, regulars & family. Thank you to the strangers who turned regulars, then friends, then family. There are too many of you to acknowledge, but you know who you are. You showed up, kept us company, introduced us to your families, spent Christmases and birthdays with us, we even said goodbyes in the hospital in your last days. This community we built, that you helped us build, is what brings tears to my eyes. Thanks to our staff, without you we couldn’t have accomplished what we did. And lastly, thanks to my business partners. Paulina, you are the epitome of calm, cool and collected, & we were fortunate to have you as our rock. Al, being able to work alongside you, my big bro, for 5 years, is time I am grateful we had together. Plus you had that remote dialed 😉 

We had something so special at Phat. A bar where everyone knew your name, a few Canucks sitting in the back eating a late breakie, sports radio guys in the other corner all watching 8 important or not, games. Suddenly the TV tuning wizard flips over to a seemingly meaningless baseball game in the top 9, the pitcher is throwing a no-no. His sis and wifey pouring $5 beers, their dad at the end of the bar going on about the Raiders.

We will miss this, & while this all breaks my heart, life must goes on. The silver lining here is when the Canucks make it to the Cup we won’t have to fight over who has to work :p love you guys & again thank you!

Hanna McLeanHanna McLean

+ Dished
+ Food Events
+ Food News
+ Restaurant Closings
ADVERTISEMENT