Staff at an Etobicoke bar knowingly purchased stolen alcohol, Ontario’s Licence Appeal Tribunal has ruled
As a result, Southside Johnny’s has lost its liquor sales licence
Back in December, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario announced it had issued a Notice of Proposal to revoke the liquor sales licence of Etobicoke’s Southside Johnny’s Bar and Grill. An AGCO investigation had found “that the licensee and a manager were repeatedly and knowingly involved in the purchase of stolen liquor for use at their bar, as well as for personal use.”
A staff member told the Toronto Star at the time that bar management intended to appeal the AGCO’s decision.
It looks like Southside Johnny’s did file that appeal, and earlier this month, the province’s Licence Appeal Tribunal dismissed it.
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According to the decision, the bar’s owner, John Theodorakakis, and manager, Yasmin Gomes, knowingly bought alcohol from people who were associated with a nearby homeless encampment, who’d stolen the products from LCBO stores. The ruling says they made purchases from the group several times a week for several months before getting caught.
Theodorakakis argued that he’d only agreed to the purchases to “keep the peace,” claiming that individuals from the encampment had vandalized Southside Johnny’s and harassed its customers.
The adjudicator found Theodorakakis’ story to be credible, but said Theodorakakis should have gone to the police instead, and not engaged in illegal activity in an effort to appease the individuals.
Based on its Facebook account posts, the bar appears to have remained in operation as recently as during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But in a post published last July 18, Gomes told patrons, “Southside Johnny’s will be temporarily closed for the next few weeks while we work behind the scenes on an exciting new chapter. Big changes are coming.”
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
