The Bombshelter Pub, the University of Waterloo’s on-campus bar and restaurant, has officially closed as of last month. This once-bustling pub’s closure came after 40 years of serving Waterloo’s students with fine pub fare, live entertainment, trivia nights and events.
Kurt MacMillan, vice-president of operations and finance for Waterloo’s Federation of Students, said that The Bombshelter’s closing came at an appropriate time for the school.
“Mainly because of the million-dollar losses over the last five years,” MacMillan said. “A decision had to be made to keep the students’ interests alive.”
“The Student Life Centre (SLC) and one of our gyms — the physical activity complex — will be going under renovation for expansion, so I felt like it would be a great time to have these renovations happen as well,” MacMillan added.
The Federation of Students had an external consultant come in and “give the restaurant an operational review … From there, [they] had these discussions about all the losses, seeing that change needed to happen [and] had conversations with the board — and because of there being a lot of [human resources] matters, we had to keep things confidential,” MacMillan said.
While The Bombshelter had been closed during the fall exam period in December, the announcement of its closure was given to staff members, making this considerably abrupt news.
Following The Bombshelter’s final event, “Farewell Bomber, Alumni Send-Off,” taking place on Jan. 26, the Federation of Students will begin the process of redesigning the space to fit the needs and wants of the students.
“NYE 2.0,” The Bombshelter’s final 19+ celebration, took place last Wednesday and had a great turnout of students. “Farewell Bomber”, taking place this Saturday, will be the final day of service at the pub and will be running from 3:00 pm until 11:00 pm, all ages welcome.
“Right now, we’re doing some student consultation: this is mainly because it is an on-campus student bar and we want to hear exactly what students want to see for that space,” MacMillan said.
The general plan for The Bombshelter’s space on campus will be food and beverage orientated and hopefully continue to provide University of Waterloo students with an environment to socialize, but completely refurbished and rebranded.
“The ideal timeline for [consultation with students] to be done is at the end of February and throughout March have some expert consultations to make sure that concept can be financially sustainable for our campus,” MacMillan said.
“The goal is to have it open for next winter.”
The Bombshelter, although officially closed for regular service as of December, has continued to organize event nights to give the pub the closure it deserves — 40 years in the making.
“NYE 2.0,” The Bombshelter’s final 19+ celebration, took place last Wednesday and had a great turnout of students. “Farewell Bomber”, taking place this Saturday, will be the final day of service at the pub and will be running from 3:00 pm until 11:00 pm, all ages welcome.
Updates regarding the progress of The Bombshelter’s reconstruction can be found at UW’s Federation of Students’ website.