Image: Fortitude Wine Bar website and Facebook / Fortitude Wine Bar, owned by Monica Churcher (left), has submitted an application to expand its operating/liquor license hours from 45 (current) to 98 hours and be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday-Sunday. The application will go before Chilliwack City Council today.
Fortitude Wine Bar

Fortitude Wine Bar, a classy addition to District 1881, hopes to expand liquor license hours

Feb 7, 2023 | 9:48 AM

CHILLIWACK — Fortitude Wine Bar, an elegant cornerstone of the thriving District 1881 commercial area in downtown Chilliwack, hopes to expand its operating hours in a manner similar to Farmhouse Brewing in Greendale.

According to a city staff report, Chilliwack City Council is set to review an application by Fortitude Wine Bar to expand its current operating hours from 45 hours a week, open five days a week, to 98 hours a week and be open seven days a week.

Chilliwack City Council is slated to review the application at its meeting on Tuesday, February 7 at 2 p.m.

Fortitude Wine Bar, owned by Monica Churcher and located at 103-45922 Thunderbird Lane, is presently closed Monday and Tuesday and open Wednesday through Sunday from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.

It has submitted a Change to Hours of Liquor Service application to the B.C. Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch to expand its hours to 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday.

Jennifer Hahn, director of corporate services for the City of Chilliwack, clarified during Tuesday’s council meeting that applicants who seek expanded hours may not always have those exact hours. “Sometimes applicants will apply for hours other than what they intend to be open for, perhaps special events and those types of things as well,” Hahn said during Tuesday’s council meeting.

The current occupant loads of 32 people on the main floor, 34 people on the upstairs floor, and 16 people on the patio will remain unchanged, according to Jennifer Hahn in her city staff report.

Farmhouse Brewing on Lickman Road has submitted a similar request to expand its hours from 50 to 69 hours. Its application to expand its liquor license hours will also go before council at its meeting today.

Fortitude Wine Bar opened in late 2022 and grew out of a time when there was a lot happening in the world and in the Fraser Valley.

“My dream to bring a fine dining wine bar to Chilliwack sprouted during a time of world-wide turbulence,” owner Monica Churcher wrote on the Fortitude Wine Bar website. “Amid flooding, ice storms, delays, and closures, I certainly felt the struggle to bring this dream to life! While contemplating names for the wine bar, I thought about wine terminology. Fortified wine is wine that has been made stronger through adding distilled spirits. This resonated with me as I knew I was going to become a stronger person through the challenges of pursuing this dream.”

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