Vancouverites have one week left to reminisce at The Whip Restaurant and Gallery, after which the iconic Main Street gathering spot will close its doors forever.

The long-running neighbourhood hub has announced that January 14 will be its last day of service. Located in one of historic Mount Pleasant’s oldest buildings, The Whip first opened in the late ’90s. It went on to not only serve food and drinks for decades, but to host everything from comedy and art shows to live band performances.

In a release, Published on Main cofounder (and The Whip partner) Cody Allmin said: “We were always long-time fans of The Whip. The room is easily one of our favourites in the city, so when it became available a couple of years ago, we jumped at the opportunity to create something new for the neighbourhood to enjoy. Although COVID has definitely delayed our initial plans, we look forward to continuing the tradition of bringing something vibrant and fun to the community.”

Rather than offer deets on what’s next for the historic room at 209 East 6th Avenue, Allmin left things vague with “We have some exciting ideas coming, which we will announce very soon.”

On that front, it’s worth noting Allmin is part of a group that launched Juju’s Drink Shack tiki-cocktail kits back in 2020 when COVID-19 was first wreaking havoc on the local restaurant and bar scene. The take-away kits were part of lateral move—Juju’s had been looking for a place to launch the city’s newest tiki bar when COVID-19 roared into Vancouver. 

In May of 2020 Allmin told the Straight, “When we take this concept to the next step, we’re not going to be a classic, kitschy tiki bar. We want to be a like if [iconic New York bar] Death & Co was doing tiki—inspiring people by being modern, but still having that classic tiki vibe.”

When things started to open, The Whip played host to regular Juju's Drink Shack pop-ups. So love a good—and more importantly slavishly authentic—Mai Tai, Navy Grog, or Painkiller? Dare to dream—but not until you’ve paid your last respects to The Whip.