Burnaby karaoke bar shuttered after allegedly serving liquor without license

A karaoke bar in South Burnaby has had its business license stripped after allegedly serving liquor without a valid license on multiple occasions.

Solo Karaoke, owned by Novahome Event Planning, has operated at 6462 Kingsway since July of 2019. A report to city council says the City of Burnaby received nine separate complaints from eight individuals between August 2021 and February of this year, each claiming that the business was serving liquor without a valid liquor license.

Callers also made complaints related to noise disturbances, smoking, and unauthorized use of a portion of the business’ premises.

The report details several warnings sent from the city to the business owners and managers, explaining that they were not permitted to serve or sell liquor and noting that further violations may result in Novahome’s business license being revoked.

Nonetheless, an RCMP inspection on the evening of Dec. 30, 2022 claimed that liquor was still being served on the premises.

“Police learnt the establishment did not have a valid liquor licence for the day and staff denied serving any liquor. Further investigation revealed that patrons had in fact purchased liquor from the business,” an RCMP summary of the inspection reads.

“Patrons told police that 10 minutes before police entered the business they were asked to hide the beer bottles and cans. Once confronted again staff admitted to selling alcohol.”

The city formally cancelled Novahome’s business license on Jan. 18 of this year. But on Feb. 7, the license office received another noise complaint about the business—this time, that about 20 people had entered the Solo Karaoke premises at around 3am.

“Similar to previous complaints, the complainant expressed frustration due to noise generated by the business patrons in the early morning hours,” a staff report said.

Novahome appealed the cancellation of its business license with a hearing in front of council earlier this month.

Through a lawyer, the company said the city had failed to prove that liquor being stored on Solo Karoke’s premises had in fact been served to customers.

“The amount of alcohol, whether it is a lot or very little, is the City staff’s own subjective view. It is possible for some people [to] prepare this much and even more for a house party,” lawyer Lucy Zhao wrote.

Zhao said the only date on which it had been proven that Novahome was serving liquor was Dec. 30, 2022, the date of the RCMP inspection—but said that the company had applied for a special event license in that case. The company acknowledged that that permit only allowed it to serve alcohol free of charge, not sell it, and apologized for breaching the bylaw in that particular instance.

Zhao also said it had not been proven that the noise disturbances had been caused by Solo Karaoke.

“Novahome is also right next to Lounge Sixty the hookah bar, opens [sic] until 1 or 2 a.m. (depending on the days of the week). It has not been proven that the alleged noise, disturbances and smoking inside the premises were caused by Novahome,” she wrote.

At the April 3 reconsideration hearing, Coun. Pietro Calendino asked why Novahome had not applied for a valid liquor license. Zhao told councillors that Novahome’s landlord had not informed the company that the second floor of the building was unauthorized, and said that that had created a roadblock for the company in acquiring a liquor license from the province.

However, Coun. Sav Dhaliwal said the city had sent clear warnings and compliance letters to Novahome on several occasions, starting more than a year and a half ago.

“I think there’s no other way to look at this recommendation [to uphold the business license cancellation] other than to support the recommendation, so we can properly follow up with bylaws as well as whether licenses are required,” he said.

Council voted unanimously to uphold the cancellation of Novahome’s business license.