Still Standing:
One Restaurant's Fight to Survive the Broadway Subway

Ron MacGillivray has been feeding people on East Broadway for nine years. He opened Fable Diner at 151 E. Broadway in 2016 — a neighbourhood spot with a short menu, a loyal following, and the kind of unhurried atmosphere that takes years to build. He survived the early years. He survived COVID. He is not sure he will survive the subway.

The Broadway Subway Project — a 5.7-kilometre extension of Vancouver's Millennium Line from VCC-Clark to Arbutus Street — has been under construction since 2020. It is one of the largest transit infrastructure projects in British Columbia's history. When it opens, it will carry tens of thousands of commuters daily through one of Vancouver's most densely populated corridors. The stations will generate foot traffic that will transform the strip.

But the restaurants that have been on Broadway for decades may not be there to see it.

The kind of room that takes years to build and months to lose.

The Numbers Are Brutal

MacGillivray has watched his guest count fall by 50 percent and his revenue drop by 45 percent over three consecutive years. The sidewalks outside his window have been torn up, rerouted, and torn up again. Parking has disappeared. Detour signage has redirected the casual foot traffic that once filled his lunch service. Delivery trucks can no longer reach the back lane on certain days. The construction noise is a constant presence.

In 2022, he sold his house to keep the restaurant open. The space has been listed for sale for over a year. No buyers have come forward. He estimates he has six months to a year of runway remaining.

He is not alone. Heritage Asian Eatery, a celebrated Vancouver restaurant known for its modern take on Cantonese cuisine, closed its Broadway location citing the same pressures. The Greek's Broadway location followed. These are not marginal operations — they are established, well-regarded restaurants with real customer bases. The construction did not discriminate.

A Systemic Problem Without a Systemic Solution

The Broadway Subway Project is a public good. Nobody disputes that. A rapid transit line connecting the University of British Columbia to the existing SkyTrain network will serve hundreds of thousands of people for generations. The case for building it is overwhelming.

But the distribution of costs has been deeply uneven. The public benefits from the infrastructure. The restaurants on the corridor bear the operational losses. There is no formal compensation mechanism for businesses that lose revenue during construction — only a patchwork of grant programmes, most of which require documentation, applications, and waiting periods that do not match the pace at which a restaurant's cash flow deteriorates.

The City of Vancouver has acknowledged the problem. The province has acknowledged the problem. Acknowledgement has not paid Ron MacGillivray's rent.

The atmosphere that no grant application can preserve.

What Survives

Fable Diner is still open. That is not a small thing. In a corridor that has seen closures accelerate through 2024 and into 2025, staying open through three years of 45-percent revenue decline requires a particular combination of stubbornness, financial sacrifice, and genuine belief in the neighbourhood.

MacGillivray's bet is that the corridor comes back. When the Broadway-City Hall, South Granville, and Arbutus stations open, the foot traffic projections are significant. Transit-oriented development along the corridor is already underway. The restaurants that survive the construction will be positioned on one of the most activated commercial strips in the city.

That is the calculus he is living inside. Sell the house. Hold the line. Wait for the trains.

Why We Are Writing This

Naturally Straws is a British Columbia business. We grow our product in this province and we sell to the bars, cafes, and restaurants that make this province worth living in. When a restaurant owner on East Broadway sells his house to keep his doors open, that is not an abstraction to us — it is the kind of story that defines what independent hospitality actually costs.

We are sending Ron a sample of what we grow. No invoice. No follow-up pressure. Just one BC business saying hello to another, and acknowledging that what he is doing is harder than it looks.

If you are in Vancouver and you have not been to Fable Diner recently, go. It is at 151 E. Broadway. The construction is still there. So is the restaurant.