MA Liquor Laws

I believe that another problem with liquor licenses is the consolidation of them in the expensive downtown area to businesses that mainly cater to the wealthy and out of town visitors. There has been a trend over the last several years for outer neighborhood establishments to close and sell their very valuable liquor licenses to well financed restaurants/bars downtown. This is very much reducing the nearby eating and drinking options for Boston residents that live in the neighborhoods outside downtown.

This happened in JP with the very well known Doyle's Cafe back in 2019. This Irish bar/restaurant had operated for over 130 years even surviving Prohibition. It however could not survive the current landscape where owners could make big bucks instantly by cashing out and selling off their license. It was famous for its wall mural that depicted MA politicians from the last century (Honey Fitz, Curley, JFG, Teddy, Kevin White, Ray Flynn,
, etc). It once had a very close relationship with the nearby Sam Adams Brewery with it being one of its test sites. Its interior was used for shooting multiple tv series and movies set in the city.
 
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Completely agree. It's the state's fault for creating a regime that is zero sum and the only deciding factor is the almighty dollar. Even the neighborhood-restricted new licenses won't make a dent. Blow the system up, make liquor licenses like food licenses. It's a choice to live this way and no one wants it to change badly enough.
 
thepixelnation said:
Just saw this article saying that Senator Julian Cyr is putting forth an amendment allowing Happy Hour in our Fair state.

Thoughts? I'm always down for anything that could bolster Mass nightlife.
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Yeah, happy hour would be great. We should quit banning it.

Also, the Globe article on the proposed amendments mentions that, currently, non-citizens can't get liquor licenses in this state. I didn't know that. From the article:
The Legislature originally passed the exclusionary language in 1938, Edwards said, as a way to prevent the state’s growing Irish immigrant population from holding liquor licenses. Today, the law is holding back immigrants who dominate the restaurant industry and want a liquor license to grow their businesses.
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I try not to swear on this forum, but....
What bigoted horseshit. I was shocked that kind of bigoted horseshit has sat on the books so long, and it's pathetic it will actually take some political will to eliminate that bigoted horseshit.
 
See my post #14 above. Whatever you think of the merits, an equity and inclusion argument to unshackle Boston and the good immigrants of this state would a) be true and b) perhaps more likely to move some of our local pols to action. It’s straight up bigotry.
 
ritchiew said:
Yeah, happy hour would be great. We should quit banning it.

Also, the Globe article on the proposed amendments mentions that, currently, non-citizens can't get liquor licenses in this state. I didn't know that. From the article:

I try not to swear on this forum, but....
What bigoted horseshit. I was shocked that kind of bigoted horseshit has sat on the books so long, and it's pathetic it will actually take some political will to eliminate that bigoted horseshit.
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then why does guy fieri have 2 liquor licenses /s

liquor licenses are honestly the biggest issue with nightlife in the city and at the end of the day a huge issue with the development of Boston. In a city like NYC where liquor licenses are dealt like candy, it just helps upstart restaurants which helps everyone at the end of the day. Even LA gives a beer and wine license to anyone, which would be a good transition for the Boston if need be.

opening up liquor laws to restaurants grants more staying power & more seriousness in the community, and opens up people to look at it as a friday/saturday night option. and it can be taxed for the state's benefit. it's a win/win, and it's a testament to how archaic mass laws that it's still this strict.
 
I'll ne shocked if The Happy Hour amendment survives The House. The MA Senate is the more liberal side of things compared to the House.
 
No massive breakthroughs, but some activity here as we come up to the end of the legislative session:

-More than 250 new licenses proposed, all of which will be restricted to specific zip codes. Requires a conference committee before a final vote and before going to Healey. Looks likely to pass.
-Because even this piddly number is too much for our timid legislators, the new licenses will be rolled out over the next 3 years
-There's also a chance we get happy hours back and remove perhaps the most blatantly discriminatory element of them all: forbidding non-Americans from holding Mass liquor licenses.
Lawmakers are also still considering measures to allow happy hour — discounted drink promotions before 10 p.m. — and to drop a longstanding requirement that only US citizens can obtain a liquor license in Massachusetts. Both measures are tucked into the economic development package, which is now in conference committee.

www.bostonglobe.com

In boost for Boston, Senate votes to create 264 new liquor licenses in the city - The Boston Globe

The bill now heads to a conference committee with the end of legislative session around the corner.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

Of course the common sense solution is to do away with the caps and set a basic fixed price for licenses, but that's far too much for the Commonwealth. It also means that in 5 years or whatever when we have more sustained growth we're going to be right back where we are today, facing the same eminently solvable issue.
 
For want of a better place to put this, but I'm currently in NYC, specifically Brooklyn/Queens. (For those keeping track, no I really haven't been home in Boston much this month.) Outside of the neighborhood bars/clubs, there's a ton of nightclubs etc in that industrial area surrounded by Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Bushwick, literally next door to autoshops, wrecking yards etc. Those uses aren't going to complain about noise, traffic etc. Now granted, those are the Allston/Brighton of NYC, but why haven't we ever had any nightlife in our industrial areas? Why, for example, are there no clubs in Inner Belt, Newmarket, or outer Seaport?
 
Stlin said:
For want of a better place to put this, but I'm currently in NYC, specifically Brooklyn/Queens. (For those keeping track, no I really haven't been home in Boston much this month.) Outside of the neighborhood bars/clubs, there's a ton of nightclubs etc in that industrial area surrounded by Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Bushwick, literally next door to autoshops, wrecking yards etc. Those uses aren't going to complain about noise, traffic etc. Now granted, those are the Allston/Brighton of NYC, but why haven't we ever had any nightlife in our industrial areas? Why, for example, are there no clubs in Inner Belt, Newmarket, or outer Seaport?
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really great question, i've also ended late nights in east williamsburg/bushwick thinking why this wasn't happening back home in Boston. The nice thing about those areas is that they're really accessible by both subway/bus/now bikes, and all the bordering neighborhoods have a lot of interest in having nightclubs accessible nearby.

As of now, I think the biggest issues is the differences in scenes found in either city. Obviously with the internet local music scenes aren't as strong as they have been before the internet and subsequently covid, but NYC will always have a strong music scene that attracts rich people/musicians/artists that would be happy to throw money at creating unique spaces for nightlife. And on top of that, there's a strong DIY culture for DJ sets in NYC – there are so many jokes that everyone in Williamsburg has a podcast and everyone in Bushwick is a DJ. There's a steady stream of new artists and returning ones for venues to showcase as well as a strong fanbase that looks forward to taking chances on artists & are normalized to higher prices because of NYC.

You won't really find that mix in Boston of demand, interest, and accessibility. the neighborhoods around Inner Belt, Newmarket, and outer Seaport don't have that DIY scene of people who will access it. I'm not sure if there would even associating DJing as a hobby for some in Boston based on their neighborhood.

New venues in Boston seem to be exclusively Live Nation (ticketmaster), and most shows I've been to in Boston that let people under 18 or even under 21 have been Live Nation. Those tickets can be pretty expensive compared to so some of the clubs in Brooklyn. College students would be a massive asset here, but they are often not included in a lot of non-live nation venues, or sometimes priced out. And for those more famous, expensive clubs around Brooklyn, I just think there is a comparatively larger population of people in NYC that are interested in these spaces than I've seen in Boston. I just don't think there's a market for these clubs because a lot of the wealthier customers who will spend a lot of money don't have the need to.

Another theory could be turnover rate? I'm not sure the amount of these spaces that turn over often, but NYC has famously high turnover and investors more eager to branch out and try something new.
 
themissinglink said:
It sadly did not pass.
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It's back from the dead...

www.bostonglobe.com

Bill to add 225 new liquor licenses in Boston poised to pass Legislature this week - The Boston Globe

The agreement ends weeks of closed-door talks between House and Senate leaders.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

To be clear, this remains an unnecessarily convoluted fix to an unwieldy and extremely stupid system that makes life more expensive for everyone in MA. This negotiated final number (who's negotiating against it!) is just a clear representation that on this specific question lawmakers do not have the best interest of the Commonwealth in mind.

The deal would add 195 new restricted licenses for 13 zip codes in Boston — with five distributed per year, per zip code, over three years. Of the five licenses, three would be for all alcohol sales, and two would be for sales of beer and wine, according to lawmakers.

Yeehaw. If my drink was as watered down as this proposal, I'd toss it in the barman's face. Second class treatment of Boston's home rule is something that every person in this city should be mad about.
 
Justbuildit said:
It's back from the dead...

www.bostonglobe.com

Bill to add 225 new liquor licenses in Boston poised to pass Legislature this week - The Boston Globe

The agreement ends weeks of closed-door talks between House and Senate leaders.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

To be clear, this remains an unnecessarily convoluted fix to an unwieldy and extremely stupid system that makes life more expensive for everyone in MA. This negotiated final number (who's negotiating against it!) is just a clear representation that on this specific question lawmakers do not have the best interest of the Commonwealth in mind.

The deal would add 195 new restricted licenses for 13 zip codes in Boston — with five distributed per year, per zip code, over three years. Of the five licenses, three would be for all alcohol sales, and two would be for sales of beer and wine, according to lawmakers.

Yeehaw. If my drink was as watered down as this proposal, I'd toss it in the barman's face. Second class treatment of Boston's home rule is something that every person in this city should be mad about.
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Well, that's... something. What a BS system.

Here's the proposed bill

Bill H.5039

malegislature.gov malegislature.gov

The 13 zip codes are : 02118, 02119, 02121, 02122, 02124, 02125, 02126, 02128, 02129, 02130, 02131, 02132 and 02136.
Those are the green parts of this map

1725395495085.png
 
Thanks, very helpful context. Not sure I see the mechanism for how these get doled out if there are more bidders than licenses. Probably good to have a friend on the board. Such a stupid system.
 
RandomWalk said:
Are the licenses transferable to blue zip codes after they are issued?
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No, they're each restricted to the zip code they're created for. They are also completely non-transferable, so the can't be sold. When a business quits using one of these new licenses, it goes back to the board, and they can grant it out again in that same zip code.
 
I haven’t read the sections cross referenced in the new language but it reads that they’re “neighborhood restricted” and non transferable. There’s also language that a business failing or licensee not renewing said license will cause the license to go back to the board for use in that same zip code. I get the equitable principle at play here but it also means that these restricted licenses are effectively worthless since they can’t be sold like the legacy licenses, creating a new class for “poor” zip codes. Great they have licenses, but again it adds so much complexity.
 
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