Bar Willow gets to keep tent seating after meeting with city

The Bar Willow is getting a small victory in what has been a tough year.

The restaurant will get to set up a tent to provide outdoor seating during Regina’s harsh winter, just days after it was told it had to take it down.

One of the owners, James Taylor, said they posted about it on social media and, after a few days, Mayor Sandra Masters reached out to them. After a weekend of meetings, the city fast-tracked the permit process.

“With the limited seating that we have inside, being able to seat people outside means that we can be about our full capacity that we normally would be without COVID restrictions. (That) definitely helps us for sure,” Taylor said.

There will be a couple of changes made to fall in line with the city’s rule, which includes taking down a couple of tents, moving the tent farther from the building and getting rid of fireplace tables.

“It’s not as attractive as it was but hopefully it will still be just as warm,” Taylor said.

While the win with the city will help, it has been a tough year for many restaurants in the city.

“The restrictions really kind of suck to have with the numbers (of customers) being decreased again and having last call to be done at 9:30 p.m. so people just bail out at 10,” Taylor said.

With the restrictions, Bar Willow hasn’t been able to make a profit, instead just finding ways to stay open.

“It’s sketchy, that’s for sure. We’re hopeful and have our fingers crossed. As long as people continue to support us like they have been the last few months, I think we’ll scrape by,” Taylor said.

“Maintaining some of the costs (and) keeping people employed as best we can, that’s our biggest concern. We’ve had some hardships before and we’ve always pulled through but we’re just getting to the point where we’re tired of fighting.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Dom Lucyk