With a name inspired by the site's 125 year history of local brewery operations, The Brewery District holds a unique place in New Westminster and British Columbia history. From the moment when Colonel Richard Clement Moody, of the Royal Engineers (also known as Sappers - from which Sapperton took its name) completed his “Extremely Rough Sketch” signed and dated February 10, 1859, the lasting effect on Metro Vancouver was forever imprinted.
New Westminster is strategically located to serve the Metro Vancouver region as first conceived in 1859. As Moody noted after his preliminary reconnaissance, “My attention was at once arrested to its fitness, in all probability, for the site of the first, if not the Chief Town in the Country”.
In 1879 the Sapperton Brewery - BC's oldest brewery - was established in the Sapperton neighbourhood of New Westminster, BC. Over the course of the Brewery's lifetime, the business changed owners several times, from Coast Breweries to Lucky Lager and finally to Labatt's Brewing Company in 1958. Labatt's continued producing its products and other contract beers until 2005, after the decision was made to close the New Westminster plant in 2004.
Conceived to fulfill long-standing community needs, The Brewery District will be a catalyst for social
and economic rejuvenation – drawing retailers, businesses, and residents back to the neighbourhood.
It will also showcase the most progressive ideas in modern placemaking, combining leading-edge
urban design with a deep understanding of human needs to create vital, timeless spaces.
The Labatt Brewery had been listed in the New Westminster Heritage Resource Inventory. With the decommissioning of the Brewery, the City of New Westminster Community Heritage Commission idenitified artifacts from the site that have historical significance. The Brewery District will honour that history and legacy, weaving elements from its past into one collective "community memory" for its future.
