Winnipeg Nightlife

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Bar Information:

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Lo Pub is located in the lower level of the HI-Winnipeg’s Downtowner Hostel at 330 Kennedy Street (on the corner of Kennedy and Ellice). Click HERE for a map. Being centrally located, Lo Pub is fairly accessible from all parts of the city and public transit.

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Lo Pub is open six days a week with it’s weekly highlight being it’s GoodForm Dance Party Thursdays. Hours for the bar are as follows:

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Monday/Tuesday – 2PM to 12AM

Wednesday/Thursday – 2PM to 1AM

Friday/Saturday – 2PM to 2AM

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Review (Thursday July 23):

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To be 100% honest, I had never even heard about Lo Pub before I visited it on Thursday, July 23. Me and a couple of my friends decided to go down to meet up with another group of people whom we had not seen in a while. My interpretation of the place is that they don’t do too much promotion because they don’t have to. Being located in a hostel I am sure a lot of their daytime and early evening business comes from travelers and their night crowd seems to be a fairly tight group of “regulars”. I also bet that word of mouth does a lot for the bar, after all that is what got us through the door.

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My friends and I got to the bar at around 10:30 on Thursday. My understanding is that Thursday is their busy night which is an Electro/Indie/House dance party event they have called GoodForm. When we arrived there was no line and only a few scattered people outside smoking (there is no smoke pad but rather people just smoke in the parking lot).  Cover for the night was $4.00  which is very reasonable. The door girl was polite and did not seem like a “tip hunter” like many other bars.

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Inside the bar is really quite unique. It has a very homey and antique feel to it despite it actually being fairly new. There is a large stage to your left as soon as your descend the stairs which could easily house a full size band. There is plenty of seating along the right side wall of the bar and along the left side there were some comfortable looking couches beside a fireplace.

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As soon as we got in the bar we went and ordered a drink. Drink prices were quite reasonable and I am not sure if these prices only apply to this night or all the time. Jagermeister shots were $3 each. A local beer (Fort Gary, Two Rivers etc.) was $3.25, domestic (Budweiser, Coors etc.) was $3.75 and an import was $4.25 (Corona, Carlsberg etc.). They had quite a large selection of both beer and spirits so you shouldn’t have to worry about not being able to find your favorite drink at Lo Pub.

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For about the first hour or so we were at the bar things were pretty low key.  The dance floor was empty and everyone was just keeping with their own group and enjoying their drinks. Around 11:30 though the bar started noticeably filling up and people started to dance. I would estimate the bars capacity at around 175- 225 people and would say the dancefloor could fit  40 or so people. I was surprised it took so long for things to really pick up seeing as the bar closes at 1:00am instead of the normal 2:00am standard in Winnipeg.

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The crowd at Lo Pub was interesting. The vast majority of the people there were of the hipster/trendy/artsy crowd. A lot of comb over hair cuts, thick frame glasses and plaid shirts. The bulk of the crowd also seemed to be 18-21 but there were a few older looking people. I talked to the owner for a minute and he said that often people who stay in the hostel don’t party at Lo Pub at night because they want to go out and check out the city which made sense (I was expecting to see more travelers). On a side note the owner seemed like a really cool, down to earth guy and was actually involved in working the bar that night which is a nice change to see.

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Everyone seemed to be there to have a good time and I didn’t notice any issues with people fighting, trying to be tough, or being to intoxicated to control themselves. Overall Lo Pub (especially GoodForm night) reminds me a lot like a smaller version of Readymix at Ozzies (or what Readymix used to be before it got so popular).

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We ended up leaving just before 1:00 after dancing for a while. The music was great and I thought the DJ’s did an exceptional job in selecting music to keep people dancing.  A couple things I should mention is that even though Lo Pub’s location is great because it is central, it is also not the safest area of town. Girls especially should be careful when walking back to their car late at night after the bar. There is small parking lot right in front of the bar but on busy night I imagine it would fill up (Ellice and some other side streets have plenty of parking though). Also, it would be nice if the bar had a few servers who would come to your table and take drink orders. After all the place is a pub so having to get up and wait by the bar every time you want a drink can be a bit of a pain.

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Overall I had a great time at Lo Pub and hope to return on the next Thursday night I have free. Despite having quite a bit of competition in Winnipeg on a Thursday night, I can see Lo Pub growing and eventually becoming as successful as other similar nights in the city.

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Lo Pub Homepage: Click Here

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