Bars & Pubs
A 200-seat pub in the old Steveston Hotel with two patios that fill the moment the sun is out. Locals come for pints, pub food and game-day screens a block from the fishing docks, and it gets loud and busy on weekends.
The first genuinely warm Saturday of spring is a real event in Steveston, and the patios are where it happens. Everyone goes outside at once. It is entirely predictable and it still catches people out, and from that day until September the licensed rooms in the village operate on a completely different footing from the rest of the year.
Sitting a block back from the fishing docks on Third Avenue gives a pub here a mix of customers most suburban rooms never get: people who live in the village, people who work the boats, and visitors who have walked up from the boardwalk. Weekends get loud. Anyone wanting a quiet pint and a conversation should come on a weekday and sit inside, and anyone wanting the noise should come on a Saturday afternoon and accept a wait before anything frees up.
Drinking in Steveston is a short list. The village is small, the licensed rooms are few, and a pub of any size ends up working as a sort of public square for the neighborhood, particularly in the off season when the visitor trade drops away and it is just the people who live here. The winter version of the village is the better one, though that is a minority position and the patios in July make the opposite argument loudly. Leaving a car in the village core on a sunny weekend is hard enough that walking or cycling in is the better call for anyone living close.
In the Steveston neighbourhood of Richmond.
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Other bars and pubs and nearby businesses in the Richmond directory.
A seafood bar and grill on the Steveston boardwalk, with Vicky's Lounge upstairs for drinks and harbour views. Fish and chips and chowder anchor the menu. The patio is packed in summer and it settles into a quiet local pub the rest of the year.
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Upstairs on the Bayview pier with big windows over Fisherman's Wharf, Catch serves West Coast seafood alongside steaks, burgers and pasta. Locals come for the sunset patio, the halibut and black cod, and a kitchen that runs late on weekend nights.
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A taphouse near No. 1 Road and Moncton with a deep BC beer list and a long wine selection. Comfort food, burgers, salads and shareables. Roomier and less touristy than the waterfront spots, which makes it a dependable evening option.
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An everyday south Richmond pub on Steveston Highway with its own liquor store attached, closed Mondays. There is a beer club, Taco Tuesday and occasional beer and wine festivals, so regulars treat it as a local rather than a destination.
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Richmond's long-running sports pub on Blundell Road, with more than thirty screens including three large ones. There are separate pub and dining sides, weekend entertainment, and standard pub food. The default neighborhood spot for watching a game.
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A casual bar and brunch room in the Executive Hotel on Alderbridge Way. Oysters, tavern burgers and smoked salmon, plus a well-priced happy hour with mimosas and fried chicken sliders. Airport and hotel traffic keeps the hours long.
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Longer reads from the editor, with the places worth a detour linked inside them.
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