On Halloween of 2025, I was in the weeds behind the bar pouring what seemed to be thousands of vodka cranberries and rum and Cokes. Lights flashed in and out of my gaze, sending me in and out of a state of temporary blindness. The music was so loud I felt every bass note right in the middle of my chest. People packed onto the dance floor, all dressed up as cats or Roman soldiers. Sweat rolled down my neck while I jumped from person to person swarming the bar.

The next weekend I geared up, ready to fight for my life behind that bar. I walked in, set everything up to open and felt prepared for the hordes of people to come.

They never arrived. The dance floor had no more than a couple of scattered groups, and far less vodka was being slung from my hand.

The nightlife scene in Ottawa is not what it once was. I know this because I’m the guy who is at the club every night. I have no choice but to take notice, especially when it’s not busy the weekend after a massive event like Halloween.

Working at a nightclub in the ByWard Market, right in the middle of downtown Ottawa, isn’t the kind of job most college or university students would choose. I didn’t even think about applying to any nightclubs. I’ve never really been the type to enjoy going to one. I was working at a cannabis dispensary on Clarence Street, and one of my co-workers there—who I’d later move in with and who’s now one of my closest friends—worked at a club called Sky Lounge.

He came to me on a Monday after what he called a lucrative weekend at Sky. Once he told me how much money there was to be made, it was a done deal. I applied and got the job.

Now, two years later, I’m the head bartender, and I’ve seen it all. The ups, the downs and everything in between.

Halloween is every bartender’s dream night. Guaranteed to be busy, meaning there’s lots of money to put in our pockets in tips. This most recent Halloween in 2025 was exactly how you would imagine it: people packed into the large venue of Sky, all dressed up and ready to party.

So why is it that the following weekend I go to work and it’s one of the quietest nights I’ve ever experienced, with maybe only 50 to 100 people passing through the venue the entire evening?

I believe the leading reason people—often students—are not going out anymore is because of how expensive simply living costs are now.

Trying to break down the cost of what a student’s expenses are is tough, but I can break it down to a couple of things. In Ottawa, the average rent is $2,149 a month. This is roughly $229 more expensive than the national average, according to Zumper. Another nearly guaranteed expense for the majority of students is tuition. According to Carleton University, you can expect to pay $7,428 to $14,189 for one year of education.

Assuming most students have a roommate, this roughly breaks down to $20,322—using the low end of the scale for tuition. This is before factoring in groceries, Hydro One bills, textbooks, transportation and general spending.

With minimum wage at $38,688 annually if you work 40 hours a week—and no student is—we can assume a student barely makes $20,000 a year.

I can see how hard people are struggling reflected in my tips. Two years ago, on an average night, my end-of-night total tip percentage would often balance out somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent. Now I’ve seen my total dip down to as low as seven per cent. While tipping is optional and I never expect anyone to tip, the majority of people do just as a courtesy. The New York Post published an article in October 2025 highlighting exactly this issue: Gen Z doesn’t tip as much as other generations.

So clearly money is one issue. The next issue I hear in my ear nearly weekly is just how dangerous the ByWard Market is at night, and it is absolutely a fair point. From Jan. 1, 2025, to Nov. 18, 2025, there have been 84 assaults, 11 robberies, 16 break-and-enters, eight motor-vehicle thefts, 45 counts of theft under $5,000 and other forms of criminal activity according to Ottawa Police Service crime maps.

Not only is there real crime, but with a concentration of homeless shelters in the area, a high presence of drug abuse is being observed, and countless women report being harassed by people in ByWard at night.

“Yeah, I was once literally chased through a parking garage at 3 a.m. by a screaming man,” said Diana Gheorma, an ex-co-worker of mine at Sky.

The ByWard Market is certainly different than even what I remember from a couple of years ago. Working late nights has become less and less rewarding and less and less lucrative. Losing hours of sleep to be at a nightclub every weekend to sometimes pocket less than $50 is wildly draining.

Management and I have sat down and tried to think of ways we can get people out and into our nightclub, and more often than not it is in vain or simply not feasible. While staple nights will always remain busy—like Halloween or New Year’s Eve—nothing seems to help during the slow months.

While my job sometimes does pay less than I remember, I can’t help but enjoy what I do. Not everyone could work in such a fun and fast-paced environment. But, as nightlife becomes ever less popular in Ottawa for students, more and more bars and clubs are closing.

The phrase “Ottawa is boring” is playing itself out in the ByWard Market.