Vancouver bids farewell to the Granville Pedestrian Zone
Posted September 9, 2026 7:37 am.
After three months of a five-block stretch of Granville Street operating as a pedestrian zone, cars will soon return as crews begin removing the roadblocks.
As businesses prepare for a return to the way things were before FIFA, many say they’re sad to see the pedestrian zone go.
Mark Clancy, the bar manager at the Shamrock Storehouse on Granville, says while foot traffic dropped after the FIFA craze, the slowdown was expected.
“I think it really improved the quality of people coming down the street, making it more accessible to everyone,” Clancy said.
“It was obviously a lull with less people in the city, but it definitely did benefit everybody having the streets closed off.”
Jane Talbot, the CEO of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association (BIA), says feedback from businesses has been largely positive.
“It wasn’t perfect, and not every business experienced it in the same way, not every block experienced it in the same way, but all in all, it was so well received and overwhelmingly positive,” Talbot said.
The city said in a statement to CityNews that a comprehensive analysis of the pedestrian zone is underway for both the FIFA and post-FIFA periods, including pedestrian counts, public and business surveys, and economic impact assessments, among other factors. All of these are planned to be included in a report to Council in early 2027. The city says the data and feedback will also help inform the long-term vision for Granville Street and potential future pedestrian zones across Vancouver.
“We have heard loud and clear that businesses want the pedestrian zone to continue in some way as we go forward,” Talbot said.
“Everyone on the street would love to see it again, for customers, for businesses, for everyone,” Clancy said.
Talbot says there are a few points that need to be addressed.
“One of the questions is do we pedestrianize for the full summer, a month or two, or five blocks or three blocks?” she said.
“What does that look like?”
The Downtown Vancouver BIA plans to connect with businesses over the next few months to find out what worked, what didn’t, and what a future pedestrian zone could look like with hopes of seeing Granville Street closed to cars once again.
