The Sun Chronicle (Attleboro) reports that Toby Keith’s yet-to-open Patriot Place bar needs new a liquor license because of state law created after The Station nightclub fire took 100 lives on Feb. 20, 2003, in West Warwick, R.I.
Keith’s “I Love This Bar & Grill” was scheduled to open in August at 275 Patriot Place with a capacity for more than 1,000 guests, but has yet to open its doors and use the all-alcohol restaurant license selectmen had granted months earlier.
Because the building remains unfinished and without an occupancy permit, Toby Keith’s cannot do a standard renewal of that liquor license and has applied for a new license, town officials have said.
Under the Massachusetts Fire Safety Act, the fire and building departments must sign off on certain inspection requirements before each annual liquor license renewal.
Still under construction, Toby Keith’s cannot meet that requirement. “We’ve never had this happen before,” Sandra Herrmann, administrative secretary in the selectmen’s office, who handles liquor licenses for the board, told the newspaper.
Selectmen have scheduled a public hearing at 7:20 p.m. Jan. 11 at town hall on the reapplication filed by Toby Keith’s.
“The premises is not open due to construction delays. Planned opening has been pushed back to January 2011,” the application states.
Casbarra said the town’s final fire and building code inspections for issuance of an occupancy permit will likely be done in late January or early February. Toby Keith’s can’t open until the occupancy permit is issued. The business will seat 333 persons indoors, plus 68 on a patio, with a total capacity for 1,200 guests on the premises.
It will have a guitar-shaped bar befitting country western singer Toby Keith’s style, and may have a mechanical bull for intrepid guests to ride.
