Rankin Culture & Recreation Centre

Small local community hall to host events in. Kitchen and bar area. Washrooms. Large parking lot.

It’s a shame I cannot give this hall 0 stars because that truly is what it deserves. While it is esthetically a lovely hall, the people who run it were an absolute nightmare to deal with. The volunteers running the bar were rude, un-accommodating and clearly did not want to be there that night. As mentioned by other reviewers, by approximately 11-12:00 the majority of our guests were “cut off” from the bar when most of them were nowhere near intoxicated enough that this could have been justified. For example, they cut off a pregnant woman (who was not drinking) and had been to the bar twice to purchase a drink for myself and one for her husband. They cut off my husband citing that “his eyes” told them he was intoxicated and that they had “taken a course” on this (never mind the fact it had been a long, tiring and emotional day for him and that is likely the story his eyes were telling them, not that he was too drunk to be served). At a certain point in the night, they decided that they no longer served doubles (making the rules up as they go seems to be their forte here). They also had a “parking lot security guard” - a woman who stood at the door watching people outside, went up to vehicles with a flashlight asking people (including my grandparents) what they were doing, and was deliberately rude to our guests. Needless to say this was not necessary and made people quite uncomfortable. I believe the staff saw a young crowd having too much of a good time and felt it was their duty to shut it down. It’s as though these people had no regard for the fact that this was somebody’s wedding - a once in a lifetime event. Also, 3-4 days before the wedding the hall coordinator let me know that we would need to have all of our belongings out and have the hall restored to its original state by the end of the night - when initially we had been told that it would be fine for us to come back in the morning to do clean up (like at most, reasonable venues). Imagine how thrilled my friends and family, not to mention the decorator were, to find out that they were expected to stay up half the night doing tear down after an already long day. On my wedding day, the coordinator of the hall also decided to take issue with us holding a small dinner at the hall the night before (a “rehearsal dinner”) while we finished up our decorating. She stated that this was outside the bounds of my contract and that we had been granted early access to the hall for the purposes of decorating only. Well, guess what? We did decorate - and we fed our helpers. We are not slave drivers! Regardless, if this was an issue, the day of my wedding was not the appropriate time for this to be addressed and I most certainly did not appreciate the way that this woman made me feel on my special day. I could go on, but I’ll end it here. I know that none of my guests (many of whom are marrying age and may have considered booking with this hall prior to my event) will be booking your hall and I most certainly will never support another event here. I hope that my review saves someone else from having the terrible, negative experience that we had. Take care, Rankin Centre.

Nice venue. However, if I could give 0 stars I would. Horrible customer service. Rude, disrespectful and unprofessional staff. Will never rent this hall again. If you want to have a fun event, go elsewhere!

Rankin Culture & Recreation Centre Review I attended a Wedding Reception at the Rankin Culture & Recreation Centre on Saturday, October 7, 2017. Where to begin . . . The venue was rented until 1:00 am, after which time the hall had to be returned to it's original state. The bar “volunteer staff” were dreadful. Shortly after 12:00 they refused to sell liquor to wedding guests, they were rude, they went so far to refuse to sell a drink to a gentleman when it was his first trip to the bar to buy a drink, they refused to sell doubles. The bride tried to reason with the bar staff to no avail. This young lady got married Saturday, the weather cleared, the sun came out, the venue looked amazing, her guests were celebrating her special day and the “volunteer staff” at the bar and their disrespectful behaviour left her distressed and disgusted at the end of the night which was actually an hour before the night should have ended. The bride and groom made every effort to ensure there were designated drivers, cabs and any and everything else they could to do ensure safe travel for their guests. The guests left early from their wedding reception to accommodate the miserable volunteers at the facility. The clean up started immediately, the amazing company that did the decorating was in there to remove all of their equipment/decorations. There were family members there as well, packing up their decorations. The grooms mother was approached prior to leaving and asked about money for the corking fee, for the money for the drink tickets the bride purchased for her bridal party/guests. Appalling, they refused to serve people an hour prior to the event being over and are looking for drink ticket compensation. They didn't serve the majority of the guests for 1 hour prior to the event “rental period” being over. The grooms mother offered to return the key and was told she would have to give it to someone else. Not two minutes later another woman showed up with the receipt book and accepted the key. Rude, rude and more rude. From what I saw and experienced that evening I could not and definitely would not recommend your facility to anyone wanting to rent a facility and provide an enjoyable experience for their guests. Your “volunteers” sent the wedding party and their guests out of the hall early, were rude to their guests at the bar. The corking fee the “volunteer” was looking for should be waived. These kids should have money refunded to them as your staff provided a disservice to both them and their guests. If you cannot find more sociable, appreciative staff, I would recommend you review your service offerings. As someone who drove a considerable distance to attending this Wedding Reception, I was horrified by the disrespect shown to the wedding party and their guests. You would expect the end of your wedding day celebrations to leave a lasting impression of happiness, time spent with your guests and the happy memories created throughout the day and yet your “volunteer” staff had this bride on the verge of tears at 12:10 pm as the bar was no longer serving the majority of her guests. I can certainly appreciate the “volunteer” aspect of running the Rankin Culture & Recreation Centre but your volunteers provided a disservice to both you and the wedding party in attendance on Saturday, October 7, 2017. I sincerely hope you compensate that wedding party for the dismal treatment of them and their guests by your “volunteers”. Dissatisfied guest, Deborah Panczuk

Great time at the Rankin Center. Friendly folks and good food.