Vancouver’s Red Racer Taphouse Quietly Closes

2020 has not been kind to the bar and restaurant scene. After months of closures, reduced capacity and a hesitation for patrons to return to in-room dining the financial impacts are hard to ignore. Closures are inevitable under these circumstances, and it appears the latest victim is Central City’s Red Racer Taphouse on Beatty Street.

As of Friday, October 30th it appeared that the restaurant had quietly closed up shop. Calls to the restaurant during normal business hours went unanswered, the doors were locked up and social media activity on both Facebook and Instagram went dark over a week ago, unusual for an organization that posted daily. On top of that, their reservation system is closed and the direct online ordering system won’t accept new orders.

Opened in 2015, the taphouse replaced the old Dix restaurant and was a central hangout for craft beer in the downtown core. The location seemed prime; nearby Yaletown, office buildings and sports arenas, but with Covid shutting down most all of those sources of patrons, it’s hard to imagine the 200+ seat restaurant was seeing many people come through the doors.

Now this doesn’t mean Central City itself is in trouble. The brand continues to pump out a long list of craft beer and spirits, along with their central brewpub location in Surrey. But it still is sad to see another craft beer focused venue in downtown close up shop, especially one that has the financial backing of a larger organization like Central City.

Central City had not responded to inquiries to confirm the closure, or reasons why, at the time of publication. We will continue to reach out and update this post when they do.