Downtown Squamish venues under new ownership

Two local bars have recently come under new ownership 

Robert Weys and Boyd Folkard, the two managing partners in the Cleveland Hospitality Group, recently acquired The Goat and The Knotty Burl, located at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and Victoria Street. The venues will now be operating under the names The Cleveland Tavern and One and a Half Ave. 

While the re-branding for The Cleveland Tavern was just announced on Instagram, One and a Half Ave has been operating for about two weeks and has already hosted two music acts with more to follow.

“We’ve already had two really successful nights there with Five Alarm Funk and then SkiiTour,” Folkard said of One and a Half Ave.

As for The Cleveland Tavern, Folkard said they wanted to create a different atmosphere than what was there previously.

“We just want to make it a little bit of a different approach,” he said. “A bit more of a bar kind of hang out, meet your friends, drop-in kind of place and with food.”

Folkard added that they plan to partner with Luz Tacos and Peckinpah for food options.

Some of the changes that can already be seen are the removal of the arcade games inside.

“We have pinball machines there now and we have two new pool tables coming in,” said Weys, who added that the free space will allow for more people and room for live music.

Both Weys and Folkard also own Cliffside Cider, but they said there were no plans to move the cidery. Instead, they said they have plans to extend the cidery and will eventually add a quieter tasting room and retail store in the portion of the building that was formerly occupied by Anthill Films. 

“We’ve committed to long term in this space, and so it will be front to back,” Weys said of the cidery.

If there are any new additions or changes to The Cleveland Tavern, Weys said they would likely be further down the road as they need to ensure that they are following the correct processes with the District. But likely, Weys said, they will look to open up the patio to highlight the well-known corner of downtown.

“It’s the main corner of Squamish, one of them,” said Weys. “So that is the plan and that’s just going to take some time and won’t happen this summer.”

Finally, Weys and Folkard added that they are planning to open a local wine and sake bar in the building across from the Husky gas station downtown, near the corner of Cleveland Avenue and Pemberton Avenue. 

It used to house the Lotus Garden restaurant and, as such, the men said they plan on paying homage to the restaurant by calling it The Lotus. Weys said they hope to open it by the end of 2022.

Ultimately, both Folkard and Weys hope to bring some liveliness to the downtown core with the new venues.

“It’s always been fun,” Weys said of downtown Squamish. “But just obviously, we’ve come out from a couple of different things or challenges like COVID and some things like that. We want to increase some venues and some music and do some cool things, working with some different groups in and around Squamish.”

“We already have these great people who support us. It’s not just Boyd and I. We have people who work hard,” said Weys. “The venues provide a different aspect to it, so I think we’ll just keep going down that alley.”