BackBar - Booze Culture Distilled

Vancouver’s pretentious neighbourhood, every city has to have one. The old warehouse district is visually cool, with boutiques, salons and some of the best restaurants in the city. Nightlife seems to only happen down here Thursday to Saturday as there’s not much substance down here. Nevertheless, there are a couple of good cocktail bars and some much needed late licenses.

The West-End is a diverse neighbourhood, an area that encompasses everything west of Burrard St to Stanley Park, and is very relaxed and laid back. It houses the gay community on Davie St, the beach front at English Bay and the best Asian food at Robson and Denman.

Main Street is the name of a major north-south road bisecting Vancouver. It technically runs from Waterfront Rd by Burrard Inlet in the north, to Kent Avenue alongside north arm of the Fraser River in the South. What does that mean in terms of Bars?  Basically at the tip of the north part of Main you have the Alibi Room and the South you have The Main.

Head west past Burrard St  and you will reach Kitsliano keep heading west and you'll find yourself at UBC or a nudist beach . If you can fight your way through the lululemon clad, soy latte sipping and prams with winter tyres you'll find a few choice spots in Kits. The main spots being West 4th, the Battle Streets (Trafalgar, Balaclava etc) Broadway, and down by the beach on Cornwall. 

The city’s main bar and clubbing district, filled with cheesy clubs, fights and general drama has become a circus in recent times, and unfortunately, it’s one of the only places in the city to get drinks late. Having said that there are a few wicked bars down here, just try to avoid the weekend idiots you’ll surely encounter on you travels.

Gastown is the oldest and justifiably the most beautiful part of Vancouver, named for the old gas lamps still evident along Water St. Cleaned up in recent years and houses some great spots which people seem to be flocking to, and rightly so. Adjoining is Hastings St and Chinatown, that used to be the pulse of the city. But fallen on hard times, it still has some way to go as far as cleaning up goes, but watch out for some pioneering places opening up.

Known as ‘The Drive’, this is a really funky neighbourhood with a real European influence (great place to watch soccer), great shopping, tree hugging, ethnic eateries and a really diverse crowd. Great street to bar hop on a sunny day as a most of the bars are West facing.