Boston Licensing Board

Allston bar gets permission to stay open until 2, just like the other bars

adamg — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:12:07 +0000

The Boston Licensing Board today gave the Avenue Bar and Grill on Comm. Ave. permission to extend its closing time from 1 to 2 a.m.

Some residents of a neighboring condo building objected, as did the offices of the mayor and City Councilor Mark Ciommo, but the board agreed with owner Douglas Bacon that he's run a fine operation with no problems since he bought the place a year ago and that he deserves to offer service as late as other nearby establishments for customers getting off late shifts. Bacon told the board he would serve food right until closing.

Proposed South End steakhouse finally finds a liquor license

adamg — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:11:34 +0000

Plans for an upscale steakhouse on Washington Street are back on track now that owner Brian Piccini has found another restaurant willing to sell him its liquor license.

Restaurant next to Symphony Hall could get new owner, major overhaul

adamg — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:02:35 +0000

The Boston Licensing Board votes tomorrow on a request from local restaurant operator Douglas Bacon to buy the Siansa Pub on Westland Avenue, gut it and turn it into a place symphony attendees might want to go to.

Bacon said the area is currently "vastly underserved" with upscale dining options. If the board approves, he'll spend $500,000 to buy the pub - some $275,000 of that just for its liquor license. He said he'd then spend well in excess of $100,000 in renovations.

Bacon is also seeking permission to stay open until 2 a.m., as he does at most of his other restaurants.

The battle to keep Boston sleepy is joined in Allston

adamg — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:47:08 +0000

Representatives of both the mayor's office and City Councilor Mark Ciommo agreed that Douglas Bacon is a fine restaurateur who runs quality restaurants. And yet both told the Boston Licensing Board today they oppose Bacon's request to extend the hours of his Avenue Bar and Grill in Allston an hour, to 2 a.m.

Why? Because they always oppose requests in Allston to extend liquor-serving hours to 2 a.m., no matter the number of existing 2 a.m. closing times or the fact that Bacon has racked up no violations in the year since he bought the place and turned it into an upscale establishment with a tough code of conduct for patrons.. In a later hearing, the mayor's office supported a 2 a.m. closing for a restaurant proposed for the area on top of the existing Hillstone restaurant next to Faneuil Hall.

The licensing board votes tomorrow on whether to grant Bacon's request for the Avenue, 1249 Commonwealth Ave.

Troubled Neponset bar finds new buyer downtown for its liquor license

adamg — Thu, 17 May 2012 02:53:35 +0000

Upstairs Downstairs, shut since a seven-stabbing closing in February, goes before the Boston Licensing Board next Wednesday for permission to sell its liquor license to the owner of a proposed downtown restaurant.

Bar owner Arthur Sutliffe had originally negotiated with the Boston Tea Party Museum, but next week's hearing lists the proposed buyer as Sterling's, a restaurant on the first floor of 60 State St. that would be managed by Vincent Polcari and which is seeking permission to stay open until 2 a.m. and run an outdoor patio.

The board's hearings begin at 10 a.m. in its eighth-floor hearing room in City Hall.

Babushka wins permission to sell Russian beer, kosher wine

adamg — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:22:55 +0000

The Boston Licensing Board today granted a license to the Babushka Deli, 62 Washington St., to sell beer and wine.

The deli, which only sells Russian foodstuffs, wanted to better serve the neighborhood's large Russian and Jewish population, many elderly, attorney Carolyn Conway told the board at a hearing yesterday. She said the proposal had received the blessings of local rabbis, the Russian Jewish Community Center and the Brighton Allston Improvement Association. The mayor's office and four city councilors, including district Councilor Mark Ciommo, also gave their nod.

Closing time on Blue Hill Avenue: Last bar left to pack it in

adamg — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:05:17 +0000

The owner of Packy Connors, 203 Blue Hill Ave., wants to sell his liquor license to a proposed Asian restaurant on the South Boston waterfront.

James Cairns goes before the Boston Licensing Board next week for permission for the deal. Coming on the heels of the Breezeway's decision to shut down this would mean Blue Hill Avenue will not have a single bar in Mattapan or Roxbury.

Shrine hopes to open this summer in an office building next to the federal courthouse.

Packy Connors was long the bane of police in District B-2, but after four people were shot outside at closing time, the bar instituted new security measures and stopped being a frequent visitor to the licensing board.

What's sauce for waterfront goose not sauce for Back Bay gander

adamg — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:18:26 +0000

City officials who were quick today to support a waterfront restaurant's plans for a patio open until midnight were equally quick to reject a Boylston Street restaurant's plans for a patio open until midnight - even though another restaurant just a few doors down already has a patio open until midnight.

Back Bay might have to brace for more booze

adamg — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:05:05 +0000

The Boston Licensing Board has long acquiesced to a Back Bay neighborhood group's request to only approve new liquor licenses in the neighborhood after an existing license holder shuts down or moves out.

No more, board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer said today.

Menino: Might be time for Theater District clubs to close earlier

adamg — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:17:04 +0000

Venu in repose.

The Herald reports the mayor's fed up with deadly violence outside six Theater District clubs and wants the Boston Licensing Board to hold a club summit and consider rolling back their 2 a.m. closing times.

Separately, the owners of one of the clubs, Venu on Warrenton Street, skipped a hearing yesterday before city licensing director Patricia Malone to discuss why she shouldn't lift the club's entertainment license for a November incident in which four people were shot outside the club.

Whopper of an idea in Roslindale: Burger King wants to stay open 24 hours

adamg — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:33:39 +0000

Can the City that Always Sleeps deal with burgers at 4 a.m.?

The owners of the Burger King at 4594 Washington St. in Roslindale go before the Boston Licensing Board next week with a request to stay open 24 hours a day.

The burger place is currently licensed for operation between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. It sits in the council district represented by Rob Consalvo, who has long resisted attempts to make his part of Boston less sleepy.

The licensing-board hearing begins at 10 a.m. in the board's eighth-floor hearing room in City Hall.

NOTE: Wicked Local Roslindale reports an owner told resident he would not seek to open 24 hours a day based on their objections. It's possible he could show up next week and withdraw the request for 24-hour service.

The Littlest Bar wants to get bigger with a patio

adamg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:48:51 +0000

The Littlest Bar, now on Broad Street, goes before the Boston Licensing Board this Wednesday for permission to add a patio to seat up to 30 patrons through midnight. Board hearings start at 10 a.m. in its eighth-floor hearing room at City Hall.

Suburban Urban Grape wants to get more urban in the South End

adamg — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:20:50 +0000

BosGuy reports Chestnut Hill's Urban Grape goes before the Boston Licensing Board this Wednesday seeking a license to start selling beer and wine in a store at the Bryant Residences, 303 Columbus Ave.

Blue Hill Avenue drying up: Another bar looks to be shutting down

adamg — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:39:52 +0000

The owner of the Breezeway, 153 Blue Hill Ave., goes before the Boston Licensing Board on May 2 for permission to sell his liquor license to a proposed Brazilian meat place in the Back Bay.

The move would leave Packy Connors as the only bar on Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury and Mattapan. The Avenue Tavern in Mattapan Square shut in 2010.

Breezeway owner Christ Stamatos or his son, who now manages the bar, have made numerous appearances before the licensing board over the past couple of years due to a series of violent incidents.

If approved, the license would go to Fogo do Chao, a Brazilian chain that wants to open in the Westin Copley space vacated by Palm, which is moving to International Place.

Licensing Board: Dorchester bar did nothing wrong the night seven people were stabbed

adamg — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:10:10 +0000

The Boston Licensing Board today found "no violation" in the actions of Ups N Downs on Feb. 23, when somebody stabbed seven people, but the bar remains closed and still plans to shut down forever.

The bar argued the incident, in which exchanged words escalated into a brawl and then somebody whipped out a knife, was unforeseeable. A bar security person testified Tuesday none of the fighters were regulars at the Neponset Circle bar.

Ups N Downs attorney Michael Ford said today he is pleased the board agreed that not only could bar workers not have seen the fight coming, but that they did everything they could to bring it under control, and, after that didn't work, called 911 for help.