Did a homicide kill the Alehouse?

Two years ago, when downtown Halifax was getting ready to host the men’s World Junior Hockey Championship, Ryan Sawyer left his parents’ Fall River home to watch a pre-tournament game with his brother. He never returned. Police found him “unresponsive” outside the Halifax Alehouse in the early morning hours of Dec 24, his body near the corner of Prince and Brunswick Streets. First responders brought the 31-year-old Ajax, Ont. native to the QEII hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Christmas Eve. Within days, the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service ruled his death a homicide—a death that, to this day, Sawyer’s family awaits closure for.

Eight months after Sawyer’s death, 38-year-old Alexander Pishori Levy—a bouncer at the Alehouse at the time of the incident—turned himself in to Halifax police on charges of manslaughter and criminal negligence. In January 2024, Levy pleaded not guilty to both charges before a judge. His trial resumes next September. As both Levy and Sawyer’s family await the trial’s resumption, the bar where he worked has just finished a forced 45-day closure stemming from charges under the Liquor Control Act. And there’s mounting evidence that the Alehouse has shut its doors permanently.

A photo provided to The Coast from the night of the incident shows police on the upper floor of the Halifax Alehouse. Credit: Submitted

What happened the night of Sawyer’s death

Ryan Michael Sawyer, 31, was killed on Dec. 24, 2022. His death has been ruled a homicide, but police have yet to announce charges. Credit: dignitymemorial.com

The Halifax Regional Police says officers responded to a call about a “disturbance” in the 1700-block of Brunswick Street at 1:14am on the morning of Dec 24, 2022. Police arrived to find an “unresponsive man” on the Prince Street sidewalk. That man was later identified as Sawyer. A police press release from Dec 24 says the initial disturbance reportedly involved “several people”—though HRP has not, in the two years since, elaborated on who else was involved, how many people were part of any “disturbance,” what prompted it or how Sawyer factored in.

Police say Sawyer was taken to QEII Hospital in “life-threatening condition.” By the time the HRP issued a statement, roughly nine hours after officers had arrived on the scene outside the Alehouse, Sawyer had died. Halifax police took one man into custody on Dec 24, HRP spokesperson John MacLeod confirmed to The Coast at the time. That suspect, whose identity wasn’t announced, was released the same day without charges. MacLeod stressed that police were gathering evidence “to determine where that information will lead to.”

On the night of Dec 23, 2022, Sawyer ate dinner with family and friends downtown, then wandered over to the Scotiabank Arena with his twin brother, Kyle. The two watched Canada play Finland in a World Junior pre-tournament friendly. The brothers had flown in from Ontario to visit their parents for Christmas.

In a lawsuit filed against the Alehouse in October 2023—first reported on by the Globe and Mail, and confirmed by The Coast through court records—Kyle alleges he went to the bar after the World Junior game, where he claims the bouncers committed assault and battery, “by, amongst other things, stomping and punching” him in the head and body. The lawsuit further claims that the Alehouse failed to sufficiently train its security staff, that its staff caused him serious injury, causing loss and damage, and that the bar “owed a duty” to Sawyer to ensure he was reasonably safe on its premises. Sawyer’s allegations have not been proven in court, nor does his lawsuit name any Alehouse employees. In a statement of defence submitted to court, the Alehouse denies that Sawyer was at the bar on that night and claims, among other things, that if anything occurred, Sawyer “provoked the incident in question.” The lawsuit has not been settled.

Alehouse staffers “overly eager to resort to violence,” complaint claims

Kyle Sawyer isn’t the first to allege violent treatment at the hands of Alehouse employees. A complaint filed with the province’s Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco division on Dec 25, 2022 alleges that the Alehouse’s security staff, over the past near-decade, “have been overly eager to resort to violence.”

In August 2022, footage surfaced of as many as four men—several wearing what appear to be bar staff shirts—pinning a man to the ground for close to two minutes outside of the Alehouse before turning him over to police. At one point, a man wearing a staff-emblazoned shirt employs what looks like a headlock. That incident, The Coast learned through obtained court records, is the subject of a separate lawsuit filed against the Alehouse in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Sept 15, 2022.

A lawsuit filed by Addisiane Freeland against the Halifax Alehouse alleges that “attacked from behind” and strangled by the pub’s security staff during a night out with friends on Aug. 14, 2022. Credit: Court records obtained by The Coast

In that lawsuit—which names Levy as one of five defendants in addition to the Alehouse—Addisiane Freeland alleges that he was enjoying a night out with friends on Aug 14, 2022, when he was “attacked from behind” and “wrestled to the ground,” where he was “strangled” and “punched” by the pub’s security staff. Lawyers representing the Alehouse have countered in a statement of defense that, among other things, denies Freeland was a patron of the bar on that night, that the bar “at all material times” employed adequately trained staff and further, that if Freeland sustained any damages, he “provoked the incident in question,” suggesting he “was trespassing and refused to leave.” The suit has not been settled.

Levy and another Alehouse bouncer, Matthew Brenton Day, were also accused of attacking a patron in a separate incident, while they were on shift on Oct 10, 2022. Those charges were dismissed earlier this spring, after a Crown lawyer told judge Kelly Serbu that the complainant—who has not been named—no longer wanted to be involved.

Yet another former patron alleges he faced a “gauntlet of strikes” from Alehouse door staffers after he was overserved and escorted out of the bar on June 25, 2022. He told The Coast in January 2023 that he wasn’t disturbing anyone, but “a bare minimum” of three security staffers left him with two black eyes, torn skin on his bicep and a “cracked/broken” rib from the incident. He sent time-stamped photos of one black eye and a skinned bicep to The Coast, along with brief video footage of his removal from the Alehouse’s dance floor, but says he opted not to press charges due to “circumstances surrounding my employment.” (For this reason, we’ve granted his request for anonymity.)

Zach (not his real name) alleges that he was assaulted by “a bare minimum” of three Halifax Alehouse bouncers on June 25, 2022. He says he suffered two black eyes, torn skin on his bicep and a “cracked/broken” rib from the incident. Credit: Photo provided.

As Sawyer’s family awaits a criminal trial for his alleged killer, they’ve filed an additional lawsuit against the Alehouse and Levy on behalf of their late son’s estate. The lawsuit, which The Coast has obtained through court records, claims that Ryan was a customer at the Alehouse on the night he was killed and that Levy “wrongfully and intentionally” assaulted Ryan, “by, amongst other things, choking Ryan until and after he lost consciousness.” It adds that the Alehouse’s owners “knew or should have ought to know [Levy] posed a risk to the safety of customers and visitors.”

None of the claims in the lawsuit have been proven in court, and Levy has maintained his innocence. The Coast has reached out to the Halifax Alehouse’s ownership and management on numerous occasions dating back to January 2023—in person, by phone and via email—for comment on allegations of staff violence, and whether the bar’s bouncers receive any specific training in dealing with patrons. We have yet to receive a reply. In separate responses to The Coast, two of the Alehouse’s lawyers declined to comment.

Alehouse ordered to close for 45 days, bar sold in late December

This October, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board ordered the Alehouse to shut its doors for 45 consecutive days as penalty for charges filed under the province’s Liquor Control Act. Speaking by phone with The Coast in May 2023, the province’s Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco division’s executive director, John Paul Landry, said the Alehouse faced an infraction for not reporting police charges stemming from an incident on or near its property. While Landry wouldn’t elaborate on how many incidents the province investigated, he said there were “other events” beyond Dec 24 and Oct 10, 2022 that led to the charge.

A notice posted on the Brunswick Street entrance to the Halifax Alehouse, as seen on Dec 20, 2024. Credit: Martin Bauman / The Coast

Lawyers for the province and the Alehouse came to an agreement over the charges earlier this October, and brought it before the review board on Oct 29. Part of the agreement requires the Alehouse to update its video surveillance equipment, keep the footage for at least 14 days and provide any footage requested by the division. As CBC News reports, Alehouse lawyer Victor Goldberg told the board that the owners acknowledge they violated the Liquor Control Act and accept the 45-day penalty.

The Alehouse closed its doors on Monday, Nov 4. Per the Liquor Control Act charges, both the bar and its neighbour, HFX Sports Bar & Grill—which shares ownership with the Alehouse—were ordered to remain closed until Dec 18. As of this publication, both venues remain closed. The Alehouse’s website redirects to a generic GoDaddy landing page, when web archives show the site as active as recently as July. (HFX Sports Bar & Grill’s website redirects to a similar GoDaddy landing page.) The Coast’s calls to the Alehouse’s publicly listed phone number have gone unanswered. A previously-operational email address for the bars’ shared general manager now sends a bounce-back reply that “the address couldn’t be found, or is unable to receive mail.”

A screenshot recorded by The Coast on Dec 19, 2024 finds the Halifax Alehouse’s homepage URL redirecting to a GoDaddy landing page. Credit: Martin Bauman / The Coast

Land records show that 1717 Brunswick Street and 1721 Brunswick Street—the addresses for the Halifax Alehouse and HFX Sports Bar & Grill—changed owners on Dec 20. A commercial real estate listing is still viewable online. It shows the properties have an asking price of $10.9 million and boasts of a “chance to own two established businesses along with their real estate in a desirable location in the heart of the city.” The new owner is developer George Ramia, who also owns the rest of the Brunswick Street block between Carmichael and Prince Streets, extending eastward to Market Street. It isn’t yet clear whether Ramia intends to re-open the Alehouse and HFX Sports Bar & Grill, find a potential lessee for the bars or shutter them in favour of other plans.

The Coast has reached out to the Alehouse’s former ownership by phone, email and voicemail, but has not received a reply as of publication. The Alehouse’s lawyers have declined to comment.