SUMMERSIDE — Residents here will soon have a new bar.
Big Mug is set to open by the end of month, said owner Hing Xu Sham, who also owns the China Star restaurant, located next door.
Sham, who is excited to see the pub open, said the establishment will have darts, pool tables, televisions for sports games, and may host karaoke nights too.
“Live bands, DJs, that sort of thing,” he said.
Sham said there will be about four to five full-time employees and a few part-time employees at the establishment.
The bar will be located in the old Shopper’s Drug Mart building, which has about 3,000 square feet for the bar.
Though there will be lots of space in the bar, there were parking bylaw issues initially. This created problems for building permits, as a city-zoning bylaw stated there must be a parking spot for every four seats.
Last week, a technical services committee recommended city council make an exception to the bylaw. The reasoning was the peak hours of parking times for vehicles would be different than other businesses in the area, so there won’t be extra pressure to find parking.
City council waived the bylaw so the project could move forward.
There was no opposition from the public or from council.
Sham said with parking issues out of the way, the bar is almost set to go.
“I don’t think it’ll create any issues,” he said.
He said people who consume alcoholic drinks wouldn’t be able to drive anyway.
“Call a taxi and don’t drive after two drinks. It’s dangerous,’’ he said.
