Nightclubs and bars won’t have the option to stay open until 4 a.m., after all.
The Denver City Council on Monday voted down a proposal that would have allowed certain venues to stay open for an extra two hours each night — although the last call for alcohol would have stayed at 2 a.m.
The council still passed other changes to licensing for bars and clubs in the city, but the idea of a later closing time was by far the most controversial.
According to the city’s Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, allowing later closings could blunt the chaos that comes with a mass 2 a.m. exodus from bars, including fights and a surge in demand for rideshares.
A smaller pilot program
Councilmember Jamie Torres proposed removing the later cutoff, suggesting the city could instead try a pilot program for it in certain neighborhoods.
“This is one of the sections that I think has received quite a lot of attention. And due to that, I want to make sure that we’re emphasizing how good this bill is and the process that Licensing and Consumer Protection have gone to really kind of look holistically at their process,” Torres said. “I could not get entirely comfortable with the 4 a.m. provision. I think we’re not quite there yet on data that demonstrates that things get safer with a later exit time.”
The licensing department plans to pursue the smaller 4 a.m. pilot program instead.
“Exploring a pilot will give us an opportunity to have some more of those stakeholder conversations with residents as well as businesses,” said Molly Duplechian, executive director of the city’s licensing department. “One thing we didn’t know with this was which businesses would want to even opt into doing something like this.”
She promised to partner with local police and track safety data as part of any exploration of later closings, too.
The initial vote on the proposal was delayed after a deadly shooting at Ultra Lounge East, a club in Denver. Council members held a moment of silence for the victims, including one person who was killed and eight others who were injured.
Council members said they appreciated the other regulations in the bill, including safety measures related to weapons.
Other regulations
According to the city’s licensing department, the changes are the largest regulatory overhaul in the city’s nightlife licensing system since the ‘80s. The changes affect strip clubs and bars and clubs with live music, DJs and dancefloors — but not other bars.
Among other changes, affected businesses must adopt a security plan, including video surveillance and weapons prohibitions. Businesses will have to take reasonable measures to prevent weapons, according to the licensing department.
Video surveillance will not be allowed in staff bathrooms, locker rooms and certain other areas, according to an amendment passed Monday night.
Other requirements include preventing “disorderly congregation” within 25 feet of a bar and ensuring orderly dispersal of people from the bar or club.
Businesses with the new nightlife and adult entertainment licenses must register a manager, who has to pass a background check, and the manager has to be available to respond to the city during business hours. The new license also bans third-party promoters from performing managerial duties.
City will change licenses
The proposal changes the licensing system for bars and clubs.
The city currently provides two categories of entertainment licenses. One is for “cabarets,” or places serving alcohol. The other is for “amusement,” which covers performance spaces or places providing entertainment. There are 14 varieties of licenses within those categories.
Under the new proposal, the total number of licenses would go down to three — the adult entertainment license, limited entertainment license and nightlife entertainment license.
The change will go into effect in April 2027.