Dear montreal community...

This is Kiva and Mauro from Casa del Popolo, we just wanted to officially tell you all what’s going on. We have suspended all shows pending a court case with the Régie des alcools des courses et des jeux. So here’s the story: we currently have a restaurant liquor license which allows us to sell alcohol only when someone is eating (the quantity of food is determined arbitrarily by the inspector’s judgement, which varies with each inspector). We also currently have a bar certificat d’occupation from the Ville de Montreal, this allows us to operate a bar but still does not allow us to sell alcohol without someone eating. In order to sell alcohol we need to obtain a bar liquor permit from the RACJ. This is one of the things we are waiting to be determined at our court case.

Most importantly for us though is the issue regarding Spectacles. In order to have live music performances with a cover charge in a venue which sells alcohol you must obtain a Spectacle liquor liscense from the RACJ. We do not currently have this and up until recently there was no way for us to get one. In order to obtain this the casa cannot touch any residential property, which the casa still legally does. In the next few months we will be making the necessary renovations to transform our new offices to commercially zoned property as well as a few other minor changes.

We have been attempting in the past few months to make these transformations without stopping shows but this is just not possible. We are VERY SORRY for this but we will be following the law. Things have worked for us for 9 years now but the recent crackdown on restaurant liquor licenses has seriously affected us and we are attempting to do the right thing. Please bear with us. There is no reason to panic or storm city hall.

WE ARE NOT CLOSING. We will still be open for food with drinks and will be upgrading our menu to hopefully entice you to come in for some swell veggie eats…daytime…nighttime…latetime too…
We will continue to have our weekly free dj nights as well as some other fun events which aren’t spectacles….check out our website for more info in the upcoming weeks…

Suffice it to say, the casa will remain and return stronger than ever…it will just take a little time…If you have any questions feel free to call the office at 514-284-0122 or email us at info@casadelpopolo.com ….

Love…kiva & mauro