BANGOR, Maine — Some Maine bartenders and bar owners love it, some predict problems and some are saying they will not serve alcohol until 2 a.m., even if allowed to under a pilot program proposed by Gov. Paul LePage that would delay last call for an hour in order to attract more tourist dollars.
The governor’s bill proposing a temporary change in the law from the current 1 a.m. cutoff for selling alcoholic beverages at bars and restaurants was submitted Thursday as emergency legislation by Rep. Jonathan Kinney, R-Limington. If passed, it would go into effect immediately and would end Oct. 12.
On New Year’s Day, when serving alcohol at licensed retail establishments in Maine already is allowed until 2 a.m., customers at the Penobscot Pour House on Larkin Street in Bangor get highly intoxicated and are rowdy, owner Mike Towle said Friday.
“It’s a [expletive] show between 1 and 2 [a.m.],” Towle said, describing why he does not support the governor’s idea. “I don’t know how much revenue would be generated, when you consider I would have to pay more for payroll [and] utilities. I would have to pay my entertainment more. If anything, it would be a wash [financially].”
Others, including Umami Lounge of Bangor co-owner Jeremy Abbott and Dan Daidone, co-owner of Pastimes Pub and Foxcroft Catering Co. in Dover-Foxcroft, support the proposed law.
“I can’t wait. I absolutely love the idea,” Abbott said Friday between taking orders at Umami Noodle Bar, located adjacent to the lounge. “Our noodle bar is open until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, and it would be nice to be able to serve them a drink.”
Daidone agreed.
“We’ve become a late-night spot, not only for the drinks but for the food,” said Daidone, who took ownership of the bar in Dover-Foxcroft with fellow chef Noah Eastland just four months ago. “It would definitely benefit us.”
The bill, An Act To Better Serve the Seasonal Tourist Market during the 2015 Summer Season and Early Autumn with a Pilot Program To Extend the Authorized Hours during Which Liquor May Be Served, states about 40 percent of Maine’s overnight tourists in 2014 were from Massachusetts and New York. Massachusetts has a 2 a.m. alcohol sales cutoff at bars and restaurants, while New York establishments can serve drinks until 4 a.m.
“Maine’s hospitality industry loses opportunities to cater to out-of-state customers accustomed to longer hours of on-premises liquor service and this loss results in fewer sales,” LD 1436 states.
Language in the bill also addresses how long customers have to finish their last drinks. On premises, alcohol consumption must end by 2:15 a.m., an hour later than the current law.
Depending on how the pilot program is received, the change could become permanent. According to the bill, the director of the state’s Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations would monitor the pilot program and submit a report to the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee in January. Based on the report, the committee then would consider a bill making the law permanent during the second legislative session.
The veterans and legal affairs committee is expected to meet in the coming week to discuss when to hold a public hearing on the proposed emergency legislation.
Towle said even if the bill is enacted, he didn’t think his bar would remain open past 1 a.m.
He is not alone.
“Even if it goes to 2 [a.m.], we’ll keep our own hours,” James Puiia, owner of the New Waverly, a downtown Bangor bar for 42 years, said Friday. “It’s not worth it. You’re just going to get the people who want to hang on.”
“I’ve got neighbors,” Puiia added later. “I consider downtown to be high-density residential, and some of them don’t want it. I’ve got to give them respect, too.”
Still, there are times he might consider staying open later, “if the right crowd is around and they’re buying,” Puiia said.
Bartender Ben Poland, who works at Sonny’s Restaurant and Lounge on Exchange Street in Portland, said he sees enough intoxication with the 1 a.m. alcohol cutoff.
“It seems a little absurd to me,” he said. “I don’t think there is a need for people to drink another hour. For us, it does not make sense.”
He said there are parts of the state’s largest city where fights happen nightly when the bars close.
“By 1 a.m., people out drinking in Portland, Maine, are pretty drunk,” the bartender said. “I also think it will increase crime — drunk driving, public intoxication, fighting. We wouldn’t want that here.”
Two Bangor bartenders, Brittany Foye, who works at Ipanema Bar & Grill and Paddy Murphy’s, and Jennifer Ghergia of Paddy Murphy’s, both said the longer hours might make sense Friday and Saturday nights.
“I have to get up at 8 a.m. to get the kids off to school, so weekends would be better,” Ghergia said.
Foye said if it’s busy, she wouldn’t mind working the longer shift.
The co-owner of the Fog Bar and Cafe on Main Street in Rockland said on nights when it has a band, “a little more leeway would be nice,” but Sherrie Gibson added that, in general, an extra hour of drinking is not needed in her coastal town.
“Maybe in Portland, they may have a market for it, but in Rockland, we have no need to be open that late,” she said. “One o’clock is plenty late enough.”