What The Lamplighter Pub Is
The Lamplighter opened in 1925 inside the Dominion Hotel at 92 Water Street and paid $750 for BC Beer Licence number one, the first beer licence the province ever issued (Daily Hive). It turned 100 in 2025.
It was also the first Vancouver pub to serve women, and it carries the name of John Clough, the one armed keeper of Gastown's gas lamps.
Freehouse Collective runs it now, after a March 2022 reopening. History on the walls, DJs on the weekend.
Reading the Room
Brick, stained glass, and a long bar under the 1899 Dominion building.
About 100 seats across booths and high tables, plus a patio onto Water Street. Waterfront station is three minutes away.
The Menu, Edited
Tripadvisor reviewers knock the beer list's breadth and the weekend noise. Both complaints are accurate. Neither is the point.
Who Shows Up, and When
Sports crowd by day, party room by night.
Friday and Saturday run DJs until 3am, the latest close in Gastown. Monday the doors stay shut.
By 11pm on weekends the room is standing room and the queue runs onto Water Street.
What Regulars Say
- Daily Hive's centennial coverage retold the Licence No. 1 story in full; Miss604 and Curiocity both marked the 100th anniversary in 2025.
- A historic Gastown pub with a great feel and good food, per the recurring Tripadvisor review line.
- Ghosts of Vancouver lists the Dominion Hotel among the city's haunted addresses, which the staff lean into.
- Google reviews average about 4.1 across roughly 2,000 ratings. Noise complaints cluster on weekend nights.
Who It Is For
- Anyone who wants Vancouver drinking history in the glass.
- Late weekend dancing without a club cover.
- Avoid Friday night if you came to talk.
Before You Go
Cards accepted; OpenTable handles table bookings. Monday the pub is closed.
Wednesday trivia starts at 7pm and fills by 6:45pm. Power Hour pricing runs Friday and Saturday, 9:30pm to 10:30pm, and the 3am close makes the three minute walk to Waterfront station matter.
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