COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two bars in Five Points have had their liquor license renewals denied as some community members are protesting their operation in the area.
“One of the reasons we're litigating the two additional cases is we don't believe that their primary and substantial business is a service of meals,” Dick Harpootlian said.
Harpootlian is an attorney representing neighbors of the Wales Gardens neighborhood, which borders Five Points. Residents, including Harpootlian, argue that bars in the area create a disruptive environment, with university students leaving the bars.
“A number of those bars were serving underage kids, 18-year-olds were drinking $1 liquor shots and becoming grossly intoxicated, rampaging through the neighborhood, destroying property, throwing up," Harpootlian said. "I mean, I found a kid passed out under a car, under a truck, not 100 yards from my house on Saluda Avenue.”
The South Carolina Department of Revenue has denied the renewal of liquor licenses for Group Therapy and Saloon, two bars in the area, citing a protest against their licenses.
“Saloon and Group Therapy are vital good corporate citizens, and I anticipate that, when the judge looks at the facts as they did previously, we will be successful again,” said Bakari Sellers, who is representing both bars.
Sellers said there is no question the bars comply with state liquor laws.
“We're going to evaluate the businesses that they stand. We have no questions about their compliance, but we're going to see what we can do to make sure that they're prepared for 2025," Sellers said. "We always like to be ahead of the curve, and we're going to lay out everything that this establishment has meant and will mean."
According to South Carolina law, a business must primarily serve meals to get a liquor license.
“We're going to give the courts an opportunity to find those terms, everything from meals to primary and determine whether or not we can have these so-called dive bars, which is pure bars. You can't count chips and peanuts meals,” Harpootlian said.
"I'm going to go and advocate and show that my client, although we believe the regulations can be stifled, still meets those regulations and laws as set forth by the state," Sellers said.
According to the Department of Revenue, the bars can continue to operate during this time and until the protest is heard in court.