The patio at the Vancouver Art Gallery has been called one of the city’s best-kept secrets. It is a leafy haven in the centre of the city where tourists and office workers enjoy a fresh salad or hot entrée with a glass of wine while classical music plays in the background.
But come May, the patio overlooking Robson Square will be quiet. The Gallery Café – which is owned by a private operator – will close at the end of April. The VAG said it plans to open a new restaurant in the summer, but wouldn’t provide details about what it would look like. The café’s closing comes ahead of the gallery’s planned move to a new location in the coming years.
“There are so many people coming in here flipping out,” said the café’s owner, Murray Jamieson, about the pending closing. “We have people who come here, like, literally twice a day.”
Mr. Jamieson said problems between himself and VAG management contributed to his decision to close the restaurant. Mr. Jamieson said for three years, he was unable to negotiate a long-term lease with the gallery until finally, he gave them one-year notice that he would leave.
Mr. Jamieson, 60, has owned and operated the café for about 25 years. According to his notes, his long-term lease expired Jan. 31, 2015, but he received a number of short-term extensions that ended on Sept. 30, 2017. There was no lease after that. In response to questions, the gallery said the lease with Mr. Jamieson was month-to-month.
Mr. Jamieson said in November, 2017, he sent an e-mail to management inquiring about the status of the lease agreement. But he said he did not receive a response for more than six months.
“I couldn’t believe [it]; I was shocked that we were being ignored,” Mr. Jamieson said.
On May 31, 2018, he gave the VAG one year’s notice that he intended to close the café.
The last day of business will be Tuesday. After that, Mr. Jamieson and his team will spend a month emptying the space. Much of the equipment and furniture has already been sold; what remains will go to auction.
Mr. Jamieson said after delivering his notice, he made an offer to the VAG to buy him out that would have included all of the infrastructure and furnishings. But he said there was no response to the offer.
The VAG declined interview requests from The Globe and Mail about the café, but said in a written response that the restaurant will close temporarily starting May 1 for renovations, “including a refresh of the interior and of its menu.” A grand reopening is to take place late this summer.
“The Gallery is grateful to Murray and his team for providing exceptional service to members and visitors for so many years,” the VAG said.
When asked in a follow-up e-mail about Mr. Jamieson’s concerns about the way he was treated, the gallery provided a longer statement noting that Mr. Jamieson had an operating licence for 20 years.
“Most recently, the operating licence was a month-to-month agreement and both parties were in the midst of updating that agreement when the Gallery received notice of Mr. Jamieson’s intent to close his business,” the statement said. “Although we were disappointed in this decision, the Gallery understands and appreciates Mr. Jamieson’s desire for a change.”
The gallery did not respond directly to whether the new restaurant would be run by the gallery itself or a different outside operator, or whether the patio would be accessible during the spring and summer while the café is closed. Instead, the gallery said in the statement the future café “will remain accessible in terms of pricing, take away options and healthy menu choices.”
Mr. Jamieson is laying off all of his roughly 30 employees and he will be unemployed.
He said he had hoped to remain in the location until the VAG is able to move to the new facility it is planning to build a few blocks away. The VAG has said it hopes to break ground late this year or early next and construction would take about three years.
“It would have left a better taste in everybody’s mouth,” Mr. Jamieson said.
Marsha Lederman