New Westminster LGBTQ+ community mourns loss of restaurant following fire

NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) — A restaurant destroyed by Monday’s New Westminster fire has been an enormous loss for the LGBTQ+ community, according to a former Pride Society president.

Jeremy Perry says Paul Minhas, the owner of Heritage Grill, has been a critical ally by providing a safe space for local LGBTQ+ people for social events and drag shows for more than a decade.

“He was part of that initial group that got our Pride festival started eleven years ago and started hosting, it was called GIN nights, Gay in New West … There was a weekly drag show for years … He was just a very supportive member of the community,” Perry said.

“He had the back room, that any community group that ever wanted to hold a function, he would provide that free of charge to anybody in the community who needed space, which was amazing because everyone else rented space to you.”

Related Article: New Westminster fire tears through building, destroys several businesses

Perry says Minhas didn’t get a lot of support from surrounding businesses in the beginning.

“When he started the [drag] nights, he got some feedback from other business owners or some of his peers who said that they felt like he shouldn’t be taking that risk. [They said it] didn’t make sense to potentially lose people who might not be supportive of the community,” Perry explains.

“And he decided that was not something that he would stand for, and that he was willing to take that risk because everybody having somewhere to call home was important to him. I remember him explaining to me he was told that it would be the end of his business … But he said that taking that risk was important.”

Perry says he doesn’t know if there are any fundraisers set up yet to help but hopes people continue to support the owner’s other restaurant, Begbies Tavern just down the street near Columbia and 6th Street.

“I think the whole community is really feeling for Paul right now and his team and really hoping that they’ll be able to salvage something from the wreckage … hopefully, he’ll be able to bring live music to the west,” he said.

“I know a lot of people really appreciated what he did there and just providing that community space. It was so important.”

– With files from Ashley Burr

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