Sooke River Hotel

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Sooke River Hotel

6309 Sooke Rd Sooke BC

since 1935

The grand Belvedere Hotel stood atop the mountain behind our building overlooking the Sooke basin and river.
Horses were provided for guests to do excursions such as hunting trips or used when guests went to visit places like the Sheilds Lake Cabin in the Sooke hills, the stable was a busy part of the area.
In 1934 the Belvedere Hotel burnt down leaving behind not only the huge stone pillars that flanked the hotel entrance, but also stories of Royal guests, rumours of rum running, many hunting tales, memories of Emily Carr painting and selling her artwork, and so much more untold local history.
The stable at the foot of the hill was also left standing after the huge fire, now without its original purpose.
The land and stables were soon bought up by an investor and in 1935 the building was renovated into a Hotel and Beer Parlour.
Prohibition of alcohol ended in BC on Oct. 21 1920, 100 years ago.
It was a strange time after alcohol prohibition finally ended, similar to the end of cannabis prohibition on Oct. 17 2018 and the unusual laws/rules we are currently facing.
In the photo of the Castle from the 1940’s you will notice a ‘Ladies’ entrance, single and escorted women had to enter here thru their own separate door, while men entered to the left.
There was also a requirement that any establishment that served alcohol must provide accommodation, hence the Sooke River Hotels name that still stands today.
In later years, as the laws were relaxed surrounding alcohol sales and consumption, the castle building was further expanded and eventually after the Rittaler Family purchased the property, they opened the first private cold beer and wine store in the Sooke area and at the time it was also the largest in BC.
A strange rule from those times was that all alcohol leaving the store must not be visible and must be in a brown paper bag!
The Rittaler Family also operated the famous Castle Pub that was a memorable local hot spot for many years.
They acquired the first license in the area to sell hard liquor and also were the first to play recorded music on their premise too.
Fun times were had by many in the pub and also playing bingo and other things like NASCAR in later years until it was eventually closed around 2012. Source: Riverside Cannabis

Closed / Inactive

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Original horse stables

In photo: Sooke River Hotel

Photo by: Riverside Cannabis

In photo: Sooke River Hotel

Photo by: Riverside Cannabis

In photo: Sooke River Hotel

Photo by: Riverside Cannabis

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