Canada, BC: Forbidden Brewing announces closure after four years of business

The owners of Comox Valley nano-brewery Forbidden Brewing have announced its closure after just over four years of business, the Canadian Beer News reported on October 4.

Launched in July 2015 by a group of partners including Michael Vincent, Aaron Bible, Nicholas Williams, Natasha Richardson, and Sarah Neufeld, Forbidden was located in the The Westerly Hotel in Courtenay.

While it was popular in the community, the brewery had been in an extended dispute with landlord Synergy Properties Ltd. since its purchase of the hotel in 2017, and was briefly locked out in early 2018 over disputed claims of unpaid rent and other issues.

According to a Facebook post announcing the closure, the terms of the lease that Forbidden signed with the original landlord and which is still in effect would have allowed the brewery to extend its tenancy for another 3 years as of October 1st, but the partners instead decided to close down the business.

It’s not known at this time if the partners intend to look for a new location, of what plans The Westerly Hotel has for the vacated space.

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