Cates Deck in North Vancouver

A dock-like plaza on the water next to Lonsdale Quay, Cates Deck is one of the outdoor spots in North Vancouver where you can consume alcohol in public.

You can take your own beer, wine or other beverage most days to this venue in the Shipyards District. In the summer, however, there’s a beer garden on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (and you have to buy your drinks from them).

See our article about North Vancouver Parks Where You Can Drink Alcohol (although not when special events are taking place) to learn about the North Shore’s other outdoor alcohol-friendly public spaces. Continue reading to learn more about the Cates Deck location.

This article contains the following information about Cates Deck:

Deckchair Cinema Series | Rules for Alcohol | Beer Garden | Other Information

Alcohol-Friendly Cates Deck

Cates Deck is a great place to visit if you’re looking for a nice waterfront view as you sip a beverage. The venue is sandwiched between Lonsdale Quay and the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver. The actual deck is pretty simple. It’s a small to medium-sized wooden structure that sits over the water. It’s a fair size, although tiny compared to nearby Burrard Drydock Pier.

What makes Cates Deck more special than it seems is that it’s one of the eight designated public spaces in the City of North Vancouver where you’re allowed to drink alcohol. There’s also a beer garden on the deck from Thursdays to Sundays in the summer.

Deckchair Cinema on Cates Deck in North Vancouver — Deckchair Cinema

2026 Deckchair Cinema Series

Cates Deck hosts Deckchair Cinema, a series of outdoor movie screenings run by the Polygon Gallery in the summer. Each screening takes place at sundown and is preceded by music and market vendors. Here is the schedule of movies running in 2026. They happen on Thursday beginning at dusk.

July 2nd: Shaolin Soccer
July 9th: Sign O’ The Times + Halftime Show
July 16th: Best in Show
July 23rd: Machotaildrop + Joe Buffalo
July 30th: Speed Racer
August 6th: Creed
August 13th: A League of Their Own
August 20th: RAD
August 27th: When We Were Kings or Enter the Dragon (audience choice)

See our article about Deckchair Cinema to learn more about these films.

TIP: Click Vancouver Summer Movies for a list of other outdoor movies in the Lower Mainland. There you’ll find information about free films happening all over the region, including Sunset Cinema outside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre with Vancouver Civic Theatres.

Cates Deck in Summer

Rules for Alcohol on Cates Deck

Up until 2020 it was illegal to drink alcohol in outdoor public spaces apart from bar and restaurant patios. The only exception was during special events with licenses to sell adult beverages.

Because of the pandemic making it much harder to socialize indoors, the City of North Vancouver wanted to encourage safe, outdoor socialization. So it declared eight different parks and plazas as designated drink-friendly areas.

This new policy was very popular when it ran from June to October in 2020. It was then made permanent. Cates Deck is now one of a number of sites on this list which means that it’s legal to consume alcohol there from 11:00 am to dusk every day. You can take your own alcohol, except if there’s an event happening on the deck.

Since North Vancouver’s experiment, a number of other Lower Mainland municipalities have adopted similar policies.

The deck has numerous tables and chairs to sit at. On beer garden days there are a few extra, and some (but not all) of them have umbrellas overhead. There’s also live music at set times. Aside from that, the deck is completely open, so not much place for shade.