Late-night alcohol sales ban approved in Charlotte, some local towns due to COVID-19

Nightlife in Charlotte and some surrounding towns will look drastically different as officials impose new coronavirus-related restrictions.

Beginning Thursday night, restaurants and other businesses serving alcohol will be prohibited from selling beer, wine or liquor after 11 p.m. The restrictions apply in unincorporated parts of Mecklenburg County, in the city of Charlotte and in the towns of Davidson, Matthews, Mint Hill and Pineville. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department leaders say they will enforce the order.

Local officials began drafting the plan last week, the Charlotte Observer first reported.

On Wednesday, County Manager Dena Diorio said the proclamation comes after the county saw videos of customers in restaurants and bars not wearing masks or practicing social distancing, as is required. Violating the county order could be punished as a class 2 misdemeanor, Diorio said.

“It is unfortunate that we must take these steps due to the poor decisions by some bad actors,” Diorio said during a news conference. “We hope that by taking this step, we can begin to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community.”

Mecklenburg County has seen 17,782 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among residents and 186 deaths as of Wednesday, according to deputy county health Director Raynard Washington.

Leaders in the towns of Cornelius and Huntersville opted out of the restriction for now.

Food sales will be affected under the new Mecklenburg County order too. Restaurants will be able to continue offering delivery or pick-up food orders after 11 p.m., but on-site customers will be banned between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Restaurants that don’t serve alcohol can continue to operate their normal hours, as long as they follow social distancing and mask requirements.

The new order also prohibits restaurants from allowing customers to eat or drink while standing or sitting at bar counters. And games that share equipment, such as pool tables, darts and pinball machines, will be banned under the order.

The order is scheduled to run until 5 p.m. Aug. 7, but could be rescinded earlier or extended past that date.

On July 13, Diorio told reporters that local policymakers were discussing the measure after similar rules took effect in South Carolina and Orange County to quell the uptick in COVID-19 cases.

County officials had originally discussed banning alcohol sales after 10 p.m., but Diorio said Wednesday that conversations with restaurant owners led to the 11 p.m. ban.

“The feedback that we got is that there’s a lot of poeple who like to dine late,” she said. “… So by pushing it to 11 p.m., it allowed restaurants to accommodate them and have less of an impact on their business.”

George Dunlap, chairman of the Mecklenburg County commissioners, rebuked some businesses in the Charlotte area last week for showing “no concern about the general public and the general welfare” amid a public health crisis.

“That’s unacceptable,” Dunlap told the Observer last week. “While you don’t want to punish the whole community for what a few businesses do, we have to in some way send a message that we’re serious.”

‘Devastating’

Charlotte restaurateur Paul Manley said limiting late-night alcohol sales will be “devastating.”

“For uptown businesses already gasping for air, this will be a final juggernaut,” he said.

Sales at Sea Level in uptown are only 25% this month compared to last year, Manley said. Restaurant dining rooms were closed statewide March 17 and allowed to reopen May 22 at 50% capacity.

“It just puts another limitation on us,” he said of the alcohol limitations.

His other restaurants such as The Waterman Fish Bar in South End also will be impacted. He said everyone is being punished because of a few.

Jamie Jenkins, partner at Boardwalk Billy’s in the University area, said although the restaurant’s hours already have been cut back to 10 p.m. weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends instead of 2 a.m. “to be responsible,” the pandemic has been devastating to restaurants.

“Every single penny is even more important to all restaurant owners,” Jenkins said.

The restaurant has a large bar with seating for about 16, Jenkins said. The alcohol and food ban will cause up to $4,000 in lost sales revenue a day, Jenkins said.

He hopes people get serious about helping to stop the spread of the virus because he definitely does not want to go back to Phase 1, when his business dropped 90% with takeout only.

“Although this decision is painful, I can get behind it if it’s not slow strangulation,” he said. “It’s getting increasingly difficult for restaurants to stay afloat.”

‘Force us to shut down’

“It will force us to shut down completely because the real business is the late-night business,” said MAL Entertainment Managing Partner David Baucom. He said most people come out to clubs after 10 p.m.

MAL Entertainment owns nine strip clubs, six of them in Mecklenburg County. Baucom said the only clubs open in Charlotte are The Gold Club of Charlotte on Old Pineville Road and The Crazy Horse Showclub on East Independence Boulevard.

He said the other locations are closed following the extended Phase 2 statewide executive order because those venues don’t have kitchens. Under Phase 2, gyms, bars and event venues remain closed to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Still, he said, at the open locations business is down about 60% from before the pandemic hit in March. He said of the more than 400 employees at all the clubs, about 50 are working.

“My thinking is everyone is going back the wrong way and should open everything up instead of forcing them to go to the few places that are open,” Baucom said. “It’s devastating to a lot of people. There’s a lot who are struggling and going without. It’s getting kind of scary out there.”

Baucom said his clubs are following safety protocols, such as thermal temperature checks for everyone entering the clubs, removing half the seats for social distancing and continuously disinfecting surfaces. The statewide face-covering requirement is also enforced, he said.

“It’s a whole new learning curve how to survive in this new environment and new world,” Baucom said.

‘Out of control’

Bill Nolan, owner of 27-year-old Steamer’s Sports Pub on Pierson Drive in east Charlotte, agrees with Baucom that keeping businesses closed isn’t the solution to stop the spread of the virus.

“All these people making the decision thinking they’re helping the cause, and I strongly believe they are making the situation worse,” Nolan said in a more than four-minute video he posted last week on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

“I know for a fact that these young people are just gonna pile into different people’s homes and party it up in that tight environment, and there’s a better chance of them getting sick than there is in any public location, restaurant or bars,” he said.

Nolan said these decisions are costing jobs and livelihoods, while bills and fees are consistently coming in and are expected to be paid on time.

“This whole situation, this whole COVID thing is getting out of control,” he said. “I’m an American. I’m proud to be an American and be free. But I’m tired of people saying every time you turn around what I can and can’t do.”

Following the revised proclamation, Nolan posted another video Wednesday saying no bar games, including darts, will be allowed. He said local leaders are “out of touch” and “keep plugging away taking away our rights.”

This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 2:10 PM.