For the past six years, King’s’ on-campus coffee shop has been the Galley. A student-priced place now decked-out with grilled cheeses, muffins, samosas and more. Like chili.
The Galley is situated in an alcove of the HMCS King’s Wardroom, the campus bar and is open 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.
Every Friday, the Wardroom has early happy hour, otherwise known as “early haps.” Starting at 4 p.m., the bar opens early for students finishing classes after a long week and who want a cold beer.
Typically, the Galley would close before early haps but for the past two weeks they have been staying open on Friday until 6 p.m.
Brianna Dunn, general manager of the Galley, says that this came about because the Galley was closing exactly when the Wardroom was opening.
“People would be coming in from class, people would be getting a drink, need something to eat and the wardroom, other than like samosas, didn’t offer as much as we figured people would want,” she says.
Friends Gina Grattan and Buffy Sweny, both third-year students at University of King’s College, believe this is a great idea.
“It’s especially a good time, because it’s during supper time, so if I don’t have time to go home and I have other plans on Friday night then it’s just really perfect to grab something to eat,” says Grattan.
“I think It’s always nice to have a bit of sustenance, especially if you’re coming off a long day of class,” says Sweny. “I know that they [the Wardroom] have some samosas, but it runs out really quickly and especially for me, like I have dietary restrictions so having that open gives me so many more options.”
Before beginning the new endeavor, Dunn says they floated the idea by word of mouth. Staff members asked their friends what they thought of the idea, and they were all excited.
“The galley has been selling out of all the food we’ve been making at that time. So it seems like there has been lots of people coming in,” says Dunn.
There have been no plans to make this a permanent event, but according to Dunn it will continue on for the foreseeable future.
Friday is the only night that the Galley has extended hours, and that is not going to change in the near future, says Dunn.
“For now it will just be a happy hour thing and we’ll see what happens.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelt Buffy Sweny’s name.