Springfield City Council votes to end 3 a.m. alcohol sales—with one major change
The days of alcohol being sold until 3 a.m. are officially numbered in Springfield.
Springfield City Council voted 8-2 in favor of ordinance 2024-231. However, there was a slight modification to the ordinance ahead of the vote.
The ordinance initially called for alcohol sales to end at 1 a.m., but an amendment passed 9-1 during Tuesday night's city council meeting will allow alcohol sales to go until 2 a.m. Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams Jr. was the only one to vote against the amendment.
The approved amendment to the ordinance means there will only be one liquor license for all bars in the city.
Springfield bars will have to pay an additional $100 to renew their license come January, which will allow them to choose when they want to close with 2 a.m. being the latest.
Clique co-owner Justin Rebbe thanked the city for listening to the local bars when he stood at the podium, as well as The Alamo owner Barry Friedman.
“As a bar we would like to keep our 3 a.m. license but we’re happy to not have it taken back to 1 o’clock and allowing us to keep the 2 o’clock,” Rebbe said. “I don’t think it was going to pass if we tried to maintain the 3 o’clock so I think the 2 a.m. is a good compromise for now. We’ll definitely still have a loss of revenue in that time, at least it’s one hour and not two; that also speaks for our gaming revenue in those hours.”
More: Proposal to end 3 a.m. liquor sales in Springfield takes step forward
Bars rolling back hours are The Alamo on North Fifth Street, The Gin Mill on South Fifth Street, Clique on East Washington Street, Bourbon Street Rhythm & Ribs on South Grand Avenue, Celtic Mist on South Seventh Street and Unique’s Bar & Grill on East Cook Street. The listed bars all either operate with a sub-class license for 3 a.m. or a Class F license currently and will no longer be able to starting next January.
Ward 5 Ald. Lakeisha Purchase and Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory represent the two wards with the 3 a.m. bars. Purchase, who was not present during the Committee of the Whole meeting last week, supported the amendment for 2 a.m. closing as a compromise.
“I know it is not as favorable to move to 2 a.m. but as I stated to (bars in her ward) last night, I did not want it to be all or nothing,” Purchase said. “So this was the compromising.”
The leadup to this decision dates back to early April, when the Sangamon County Board in a 21-5 vote ended 3 a.m. liquor sales, eliminating the selling of alcohol after 1 a.m. The new code went into effect this month, and by the end of June several taverns in the county will have rolled back hours.
The change for the city goes into effect starting Jan. 1, 2025.
Steven Spearie contributed to this article.
Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for The State Journal-Register. She can be reached at [email protected]; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield ending 3 a.m. alcohol sales beginning in 2025
