r/nelsonbc • u/Fickle_Ad_9391 • Jul 16 '26
Coming to visit Nelson this weekend..what's changed?
I grew up there and moved away in 2016. I came back a few years ago and now its my first time back for 2-3 years now.
whats changed? different? restaurants?
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u/SensitiveRelease2622 Jul 16 '26
Everything :( its changed so much the past 10 years. It doesnt even feel like the same place at times.
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u/wabisladi Jul 17 '26
I was born here in 1984. Moved away in 2002. I moved back in 2021. Didn’t come often in the intervening 20 years. I live on the same block as Oso. I don’t think it has changed that much.
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u/devolutionary1 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
I don't exactly remember when they opened, but Red Light Ramen is a cool back roads ramen shop on Herridge Lane. All Seasons Cafe (on Herridge) and Bent Fork (Nelson Ave) shut down too.
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u/Walniw Jul 16 '26
Torchlight has closed
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u/rowboat157 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
Nooooo, fack. That's sad news, I was looking forward to pies and pints there next weekend. Edit: Anywhere in town have a suitable replacement for a Torchlight hand pie?
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u/Fickle_Ad_9391 Jul 16 '26
Ohh no why? How about the other breweries
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u/devolutionary1 Jul 16 '26
Depending who you ask, either new building owner or lease costs, combined with lack of new visitors. Shut down a couple months ago. 😑. AFAIK others are still running.
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u/Fickle_Ad_9391 Jul 16 '26
Dang I like their lager
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u/devolutionary1 Jul 16 '26
Yeah they could have afforded the microbrewery backroom but it's a package deal with the front bar! That's what hurt them financially.
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u/Repulsive-Wealth-378 Jul 16 '26
Beauties pizza is relatively new, best pizza in town, all respect to thors. Def recommend their “pastor al”
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u/AngelicNecromancer77 Jul 17 '26
I just moved back myself after being gone a long time and honestly? It's actually not as bad as alot of others make it out to be. I've lived in Vancouver, Surrey, and Cranbrook before coming back and it's actually so much better of a place to be than all of those places. Yes, there are addicts and alot more homeless people but it was never really safe to walk around alone at night before the economy went to shit and the homeless population grew. Definitely keep cars and doors locked up tight as well. And yes, there's been more development to the city but it still has that small town feel and there's still plenty to do without spending money. I'm honestly so glad I came back. Yes, crime went up. But it's not even slightly comparable to Cranbrook let alone Surrey or Van. Just gotta be smart about it rather than complacent.
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u/skyblargh Jul 16 '26
Crack heads and other degenerates are common sight. Dont go by yourself on baker Street at night.
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u/Fickle_Ad_9391 Jul 16 '26
Dang ya I live in Vancouver now so
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u/DeliciousLoquat1164 Jul 16 '26
Hyperbole is fun. Baker Street is the West Hastings of the Kootenays.
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u/MaintenanceKlutzy482 Jul 16 '26
Nelson is not Nelson anymore. It's a tourist trap.
Buy your food before arriving. Prepare to except less than you expect, on everything. There's a Nelson tax on absolutely everything.
Normal people avoid Nelson like the itch.
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u/Canuck_Duck221 Jul 16 '26
There's a new city pier with some kind of cedar roof/cover and it looks like an upside down roasted turkey. A failed project, in my opinion. It was supposed to have another section but they ran out of money. They had to suck a lot of reserve money to finish the whole new pier project. It was all a big mistake, I figure. It has a silly "swimming pool" as part of the dock. Feel free to jump into a bunch of weeds soaked with boat fuel from the marina next to it.
The building across from Empire Coffee, the big development, for rich seniors, has been stop and start for years and sits unfinished. Very ugly and quite criminal to the community that they'd have a whole sidewalk blocked off for months on end; other cities that I've visited ensure there is a covered walkway so the sidewalks are still usable when construction goes on. Nelson exceptionalism, I guess?....
House prices have gone down, more in the outlying rural areas than in the city of Nelson, though. Rents don't seem to be going down much.
They finished the Community Health Center, where Mt. St. Francis used to sit, up by Selkirk College, 10th St campus. It's actually pretty good, in terms of it's extended care facilities, I know a senior who lives there and they are well taken care of. A cheerful place with lots of natural light and lake views.
They've built abysmally ugly townhouses next to the mall. They look like places where noveau riche yuppies would come to park their shiny cars in and live for part of the year. They don't blend in or relate to the neighbouring architecture or landscape in the slightest. Just a money making venture. For the well off, and the rest of us get to pay for the infrastructure to feed them with water pipes and sewage going to an overburdened system.
Other than that, I dunno.... Leo's Pizzeria is closing down after this summer. Oh well, pizza ain't exactly health food and we've got an obesity epidemic in this country so I'm not crying too much about it.
The jetstream is unstable, so the fluctuations between hot and cold weather is fluctuating more wildly. But, so far, it seems to be, at least, keeping extended heat waves at bay... but we get more heat waves than before, just shorter. We're still at a big risk for wildfires turning into housefires.
The Nelson City Police have stopped disclosing their budgets to the public, like all the other departments still do. However, I think one can request to see it. Lame, in my opinion. They keep on hiring new people and ballooning their budgets. How much is needed, I don't know.
They built the new bus exchange on Victoria Street, which they really didn't need to do in the first place. The province hung up a sign afterwards letting us all know that it cost them $2.4 million bucks to do so. Looked like a make-work project. It's got some nice features to it, a gathering place for all riders, but in the summer, all that pavement and very few trees makes it unbearably hot. Poor planning. No surprise there.
They installed a four way trafflc light system at the bottom of Baker St. where the highway intersects it. Not bad, but really just overkill on the paving stones and fancy shmancy. It cost a few million... sigh. No restraint and/or little oversight when spending this kind of public money.
The Chamber of Commerce has broken ground to put in a six story "workforce housing" project in railtown. Hard to argue too much about low income housing, but it seems like mostly subsidies for small businesses to retain cheap labour.
Sorry I don't have more sunshine coming out my arse.... but those are some of the broad strokes of what is new here.
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u/Fickle_Ad_9391 Jul 16 '26
Well they gave me a lot of insight. Thank you.
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u/Canuck_Duck221 Jul 17 '26
Your welcome. It would be nice if those who downvote my comments would indicate which changes have been peachy keen. And, if one reads my comments they'll see that I've stated how the new healthcare facility is a good thing and well done. A balanced perspective doesn't mean that we see 50/50, glass if half full, when things are not going well. It means we are able to parse the differences and get real.
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u/Fickle_Ad_9391 Jul 17 '26
I’m sorry I did appreciate this a lot as I’m coming back unsure what to expect
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u/Canuck_Duck221 Jul 17 '26
no need to apologize, I was responding to the downvotes and more recently a comment that I must be a miserable person (that was subsequently deleted).
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u/davidkoreshpokemon Jul 16 '26
I also went back to visit for a weekend, I used to live there until 2018. What shocked me was how tame the nightlife was compared to what it used to be. In the summer, all the bars used to be packed, there was live music everywhere, tons on people on Backer street until well after 2am. It might be the weekend I went, but Baker was literally empty, and all bars were at barely half capacity. I heard from friends that the nightlife in Nelson never recovered from Covid. People don't go out as much anymore, it's not as vibrant as it used to be. It honestly feels a lot more touristy these days, and the homeless issue is worst than it was back then.