Kelowna pet owners who love to enjoy a pint at our local breweries will be ecstatic to know that Unleashed Brewing will remain dog friendly beyond Feb. 15.
In late January, the owners were told by Interior Health (IH) that their trial period of allowing dogs inside the taproom would end on Feb. 15.
The brewery quickly moved to challenge the ruling and enlisted their loyal supporters to help by signing a change.org petition.
In less than five days, the petition received 6,400 signatures and it has quickly led to a change of heart from the health authority.
Today, Unleashed announced that dogs will continue to be welcome within the taproom beyond Feb. 15 after receiving verbal approval from IH.
“We are excited for this unique opportunity to continue acting as ambassadors for the dog community," said co-owner Ashton Sykes.
"We will continue to work with health authorities as we move forward to ensure we maintain a safe and comfortable environment for all that come into the brewery”.
A Facebook post from the brewery said that the response to the petition made it clear that people are excited about the dog-friendly concept and “really want a place where they can bring their dog and hang out.
“If it wasn’t for your support, things may not have moved so quickly - for that, we are very grateful,” read the post.
Unleashed first received approval on a trial basis to welcome dogs inside the brewery’s taproom in August 2022.
It came after months of negotiations with the City of Kelowna, Province of BC and Interior Health, and made Unleashed the first BC brewery to allow dogs inside.
This is a developing story and it will be updated when more information from Unleashed and Interior Health becomes available this afternoon.
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.
If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.
