When service ends, who needs a licence, what the bill and the team cost, and the nights that fill the city, for anyone running a club, lounge or bar here.
What the province and the City ask of a licensed room, from the end of service to the door. Liquor licences come from the AGCO.
There is no legal last call: the limits are the end of service and the 45-minute clear-up. On New Year’s Eve service runs to 3 a.m. The 2026 World Cup extension to 4 a.m. ended on 20 July 2026.
Everyone who sells, serves or takes orders for alcohol needs Smart Serve, and so does security staff you employ.
MoreCertificates last five years. Inspectors can ask to see them, so keep copies.
Source: AGCOOntario law counts a bouncer as a security guard: a licence, and a uniform marked SECURITY.
MoreEmploying your own guards means registering as an employer. Collared shirts can’t be black or navy.
Source: Ontario e-LawsCheck ID before serving anyone who looks under 19, and at the door if your licence keeps under-19s out.
MoreAccepted ID has a photo and a date of birth and is issued by a government or the LCBO.
Source: AGCORooms holding more than 150 people with amplified music or dancing need the City’s nightclub licence.
MoreSmaller rooms are licensed as eating, drinking or entertainment places. Nightclubs are allowed in most commercial zones since 2025.
Source: City of TorontoFrom 11 p.m., music reaching a neighbour’s home or workplace is capped at 50 dB(A) or 65 dB(C) outdoors.
MoreThe dB(C) limit is the bass. A noise exemption permit needs 28 days’ notice.
Source: City of TorontoCurb lane patios run from May to mid-October under CaféTO. Applications open in January.
MoreThis year’s curb lane patios come down between 1 and 15 October.
Source: City of TorontoServing past 2 a.m. needs an AGCO extension for an event of significance, applied for 30 days ahead.
MoreTelevised events never qualify. Events Council designates as municipally significant can.
Source: AGCOEvents outside a licensed room run on a permit: $150 a day to sell alcohol, $50 a day without sales.
MoreApply about 10 days ahead for a private event and 30 for a public one.
Source: AGCOSince 1 April 2026 bars buy their alcohol from the LCBO, beer included.
MoreStock bought from The Beer Store or a brewery before April can still be sold.
Source: LCBOSelling alcohol takes the AGCO’s liquor sales licence, on top of the City business licence. In Toronto the path runs in this order.
Confirm with the City that the address is zoned for the use, and get a Tax Compliance Verification number from Ontario’s Ministry of Finance. The application asks for it.
Source: AGCOOnly an owner can apply. Have disclosures ready for every owner, director, partner and on-site manager, a signature form and floor plans to scale. Fees are paid by card in the portal.
Source: AGCOOwners, officers, directors and managers may go through police and financial checks as part of the standard application.
Source: AGCOIf the address has had no licence for six months, the AGCO sends a placard to post on the front of the premises. Residents and the City can object through iAGCO; a valid objection leads to a public meeting or a tribunal review.
Source: AGCO public noticeSource: AGCO objectionsEmail liquorlicence@toronto.ca with your AGCO file number, pay at City Hall and be ready for inspection within 30 days. Fire, Building and Public Health each inspect and write to the AGCO; police and the ward councillor are told.
Source: City of TorontoAn AGCO inspector walks the premises before the licence is issued, sometimes with conditions. Post it where guests, inspectors and police can see it.
Source: AGCOIssued by the AGCO
General information, not legal advice. Laws and licence conditions change and vary by venue. Confirm with the AGCO or the City before acting on it.
How a table’s bill adds up once tax and a service charge are on it, and what guests pay at the door.
| Minimum spend | $1,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Service charge 18%, added by the venue | $180.00 |
| HST 13% of both lines | $153.40 |
| Guest pays | $1,333.40 |
| Tip the guest chooses to add | No tax |
A service charge the venue adds to the bill, mandatory or suggested, carries HST. A tip the guest freely gives doesn’t.
Source: Canada Revenue AgencyOntario’s employment law still counts that service charge as a tip, so it belongs to staff.
Source: Government of OntarioCovers, tickets and table spend fall under the general rule that most sales in Canada carry HST.
Source: Canada Revenue AgencyRough estimates for tickets and bottle-service tables, from public listings and venues’ own pages.
$15 to $35
Typically about $23
The usual lowest advance ticket for a Thursday to Saturday club night, from 160 public listings, fees included.
$250 to $750
A typical table, about $550
The lowest table five venues publish, before 13% HST and an 18 to 21% service charge. Their bigger tables reach $1,250 to $1,500; most rooms quote tables privately.
Figures are estimates from the sources and samples listed. They change often and may be wrong. Check with the venue or the relevant authority before relying on them. Venues and events named here aren’t affiliated with VenueStack and haven’t endorsed this guide. Price sources: Resident Advisor, Eventbrite, Venue booking pages.
Hourly wages for the roles a night runs on, and the rules on tips.
| Role | Range, low to high | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Bartenders$17.95 to $30.00 | $20.00 | |
| Servers$17.95 to $28.00 | $17.95 | |
| Hosts$17.95 to $28.57 | $18.00 | |
| Security and door$17.95 to $30.00 | $19.00 | |
| Cooks$17.95 to $24.00 | $18.00 | |
| Managers$17.95 to $48.08 | $27.47 |
Minimum wage $17.95 an hour, since 1 October 2026Source: Government of Ontario
Bar: lowest to highest wage reported. Dot: median. Source: Job Bank
Tips belong to staff. Only tax, court orders and a tip pool can come out of them, and owners can’t share in the pool unless they regularly do the same work.
Source: Government of OntarioOn credit card tips you may keep the card fee share: the tip times the card rate or 1.5%, whichever is higher. Debit fees can’t be deducted.
Source: Ontario e-LawsTips are paid by cash, cheque or direct deposit to an account the employee chooses.
Source: Government of OntarioSince 2022 everyone earns at least the general minimum wage; the lower liquor server rate is gone.
Source: Government of Ontario
The nights that fill a room, or empty it, month by month.
The City’s prix fixe program; rooms with a kitchen can apply.
Official siteThe dinner and date crowd. When it falls midweek, couples book the weekend before too.
Watch parties fill sports bars and lounges.
A holiday Monday, so the Sunday before trades like a Saturday.
One of the year’s biggest bar nights, whatever the weekday.
The Thursday before Good Friday is a holiday eve. Easter Monday isn’t a required holiday.
Game nights fill the Entertainment District and King West until late September.
If the Leafs or Raptors qualify, game nights bring watch parties.
A holiday Monday, so the Sunday before trades like a Saturday.
Ten nights of club shows.
Official siteOne of the year’s biggest weekends, centred on the Village.
Official siteThe night before is a holiday eve; when it falls midweek, many take a long weekend.
The Grand Parade falls on the Saturday, with fetes all weekend.
Official siteCarnival long weekend. Not a required public holiday.
About 18 days at Exhibition Place, with crowds through Liberty Village and King West.
Official siteThe last long weekend of summer and the CNE’s last.
Premiere after-parties on King West.
An all-night free art event with crowds downtown until 7 a.m.
Official siteA holiday Monday, so the Sunday before trades like a Saturday.
When it falls midweek, the parties run the weekend before.
No city-wide dates
Public holiday pay applies to staff.
Service runs to 3 a.m., the one night it does.
Official site
Toronto’s nightlife districts and the rooms each is known for.
Theatres, concert and sports venues, restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Its business area is now called Downtown West.
The city’s original nightclub district: bottle-service clubs, lounges and hidden speakeasies.
Live music rooms, bars and restaurants among the fashion and design shops, from Simcoe St to Gladstone Ave.
Restaurants and bars, chef-driven to dive, with live music after dark.
Dundas St West’s restaurants, bars and live music rooms, west to Lansdowne. Once the Dundas West business area.
College St from Bathurst to Shaw: restaurants, cafés and bars with patios and late nights.
Canada’s largest 2SLGBTQ+ neighbourhood: bars, drag stages and dance nights, and home to Pride and Halloween on Church.
Hotels, fine dining and patios among designer boutiques, north of Bloor.
Tech offices by day; restaurants and bars with a young crowd, busiest on game nights.
Greek and multicultural restaurants, pubs and bars along Danforth Ave, east across the Don Valley.
Ranked by published capacity: the City’s figure where one exists, else the City’s music-venue directory, else the venue’s own. Century, Story, Complex19, Future and FYE publish no usable figure, so they aren’t ranked.
| Rank | Venue | Nights | Music | Published price | Published capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RebelClubWaterfront · 11 Polson StSource: City of TorontoSource: Destination Toronto | Event nights, mostly Fridays and Saturdays | Hip-hop, Top 40, EDM and reggaeton across four rooms | VIP tables from $750 | 3,163 |
| 2 | DPRTMNTClubKing West · 473 Adelaide St WSource: DPRTMNT | Fridays and Saturdays | Electronic on Fridays; hip-hop, reggaeton and house on Saturdays | Tables from $700 | 1,200 |
| 3 | The Fifth Social ClubLoungeEntertainment District · 225 Richmond St WSource: The Fifth | Fridays and Saturdays | DJ nights | Not listed | 800 |
| 4 | SolunaLoungeQueen West · 312 Queen St WSource: Soluna | Wednesday to Saturday | Afro house, global house and Latin | Minimum spends from $1,000 | 750 |
| 5 | CODAClubThe Annex · 794 Bathurst StSource: City of Toronto Open Data | Fridays and Saturdays, to 4 a.m. | Electronic | Not listed | 417 |
| 6 | Sunrise ForgivesClubKing West · 545 King St WSource: Sunrise Forgives | Thursday to Saturday | DJ nights with bottle service | Not listed | 275 |
| 7 | Isabelle’sLoungeKing West · 548 King St WSource: FreehouseSource: Destination Toronto | Thursday to Saturday | Open format, resident DJs | Bottle packages from $1,000 | 250 |
| 8 | Lost And FoundClubKing West · 577 King St WSource: City of Toronto Open Data | Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays | DJ nights with bottle service | Table packages from $650 | 180 |
| 9 | ParosLoungeYorkville · 119 Yorkville AveSource: Paros | Wednesday to Saturday | DJ sets | Bottles from $325 | 156 |
| 10 | Bar CathedralClubSt. Lawrence · 54 The EsplanadeSource: Bar Cathedral | Thursday to Saturday | 2000s and 2010s throwbacks | Free entry on club nights | 150 |
Venues named here aren’t affiliated with VenueStack and haven’t endorsed this guide. Details come from each venue’s own pages and can change; a venue can ask us to correct or remove its entry.
Who lives in and visits the city. These describe Toronto’s population and visitors, not any venue’s guests.
Sell tickets, take table bookings with deposits, run the guest list and check guests in at the door, in one place. Built for clubs, lounges and bars.
Alcohol sale and service ends at 2 a.m. in Ontario, 3 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, and every drink must be cleared within 45 minutes, so by 2:45 a.m. Serving later needs an AGCO extension for an event of significance, applied for at least 30 days ahead.
Not in law. The law sets when sale and service must end (2 a.m.) and when drinks must be cleared (2:45 a.m.). When to call last orders before that is up to each venue.
Not normally. Service past 2 a.m. needs an AGCO extension for an event of provincial, national or international significance, or one City Council designates; televised events don’t qualify. The province-wide 4 a.m. extension ran only for the 2026 World Cup and ended on 20 July 2026.
Apply to the AGCO for a liquor sales licence in its iAGCO portal, with disclosures for owners and managers and floor plans to scale. Expect background checks, a public notice of 7 to 28 days if the address has had no licence for six months, municipal sign-offs from fire, building and public health, and an AGCO inspection. The AGCO publishes no processing time.
$1,055 for a new two-year liquor sales licence or $1,355 for four years ($925 and $1,225 when no public notice is needed). Renewals are $300 or $600. In Toronto the City’s clearance adds $994.28 including HST, and the City business licence is separate.
Since 30 September 2026 the City’s nightclub licence applies to venues holding more than 150 people that offer amplified music or dancing, or several nightclub features such as bottle service or a DJ booth. Smaller rooms are licensed as eating, drinking or entertainment places.
Yes. Ontario law names acting as a bouncer as security guard work, so door staff need a security guard licence and a uniform marked SECURITY. Security staff a venue employs also need Smart Serve.
19. Staff must check ID before serving anyone who looks under 19, and at the door if the licence keeps under-19s out. Accepted ID has a photo and a date of birth and is issued by a government or the LCBO.
Night limits on amplified sound run from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Music reaching a neighbour’s home or workplace is capped at 50 dB(A) or 65 dB(C) measured outdoors, against 55 dB(A) or 70 dB(C) by day. The dB(C) limit is the bass. A noise exemption permit for a louder event needs 28 days’ notice.
Yes. The CRA says a mandatory or suggested service charge added to the bill carries HST. A tip the guest freely gives does not. Under Ontario employment law the service charge still counts as a tip, so it belongs to staff.
$17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026, the same as every other job; Ontario dropped its lower liquor server rate in 2022. Job Bank puts the median for Toronto bartenders at $20 an hour.
Roughly $15 to $35 for a Thursday to Saturday club night in October 2026, typically about $23 with fees, from 160 public listings. Halloween weekend ran a little higher. The estimate is refreshed every quarter.
Where venues publish a table minimum, the lowest runs from $250 to $750 before 13% HST and an 18 to 21% service charge. Their bigger tables reach $1,250 to $1,500, and most rooms quote tables privately.
VenueStack publishes this guide for general information. We take care to keep it accurate and list our sources and review dates, but we can’t guarantee it is complete, current or correct, and we aren’t responsible for decisions made on it. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice. Prices, minimums and wages are estimates from the samples described and don’t represent any particular venue. Venues, events and organisations named here aren’t affiliated with VenueStack and haven’t endorsed this guide.
Data gathered in October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
MontrealQuebec, Canada
Closing time and Nuits Montréal extended hours, the RACJ permis de bar and its fees, entertainment authorisations, borough noise rules, GST on service charges, tips, wages and the year’s big nights.
Read the guide
VancouverBritish Columbia, Canada
Hours to 4 a.m., getting a BC liquor licence, Serving It Right, door licensing, PST on liquor, wages and tips, and the year’s big nights.
Read the guide
CalgaryAlberta, Canada
Closing time, the AGLC liquor licence, the City business licence, ProServe and ProTect, noise limits, GST on service charges, door staff, wages and the year’s big nights.
Read the guide
