A pub turns into club
McKinney: The Londoner got around loss of alcohol license12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, September 13, 2007
McKINNEY – Order and purpose have returned to 100 N. Tennessee St. All again goes with the flow.
For as the banner flying Tuesday over McKinney put it: "The Londoner Is Open!!"
Three months after losing its state license to sell alcoholic beverages, the popular pub is back as a private club – with a little help from some friends.
Since its opening four-plus years ago, the place has become a gathering spot and energy hub for downtown McKinney, creating some night life and, as alcohol sources can do, occasionally some work for police.
It has drawn a loyal following (as well as a Guinness and more) with its fish and chips, dartboards, jukebox and mother-country public house look and feel.
"You walk in here a stranger, and by the end of the night you've got a roomful of friends," said Lucy Parker Watkins, a regular who often brings her two daughters in for meals and playful company.
And in recent months, an outpouring of public support has helped the pub through dry and uncertain times.
In May 2004, McKinney voters decided restaurants could sell mixed drinks and other alcoholic beverages, as long as alcohol sales provide no more than half of their revenue.
But in June, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission declined to renew the Londoner's mixed-drink permit after the business attributed 61 percent of its previous year's revenue to alcohol.
Facing a yearlong wait to reapply for the permit, the pub's owner applied to sell alcohol as a private club.
For a spell, the restaurant gave away beer and wine to keep its spirit alive – a short-lived offer that became too popular and costly. Loyalists' appetites and tips helped keep the doors open, as did profits from the Londoner's sister pub in Addison. Some employees hung in with pay cuts.
And when the city staff opposed the Londoner's private club plan, its die-hards responded with signs, petitions and words of support to the City Council.
Besides a state license, McKinney also requires that private clubs obtain a council-approved specific-use permit.
The city planning staff recommended denial of the Londoner's permit because of "general concern over the number and severity of police calls" there, said Melissa Henderson, city planning director.
Since 2005, McKinney police have responded to 10 alcohol-related disturbances inside or near the Londoner, including five cases of public intoxication and three fights, said Capt. Randy Roland, a police spokesman.
"It's the type of calls we were seeing that caused concern," he said, explaining why Police Chief Doug Kowalski proposed denial of the permit.
"They were acting like a bar. That's why they lost their state license," Capt. Roland said. "Our attempt was to raise the red flag. ... The chief said we'd rather not have bars, but if you want them, we'll police them."
Any problem or police call is unfortunate, said Barry Tate, the Londoner's Texas-born, England-bred general manager. But trouble can happen wherever alcohol is served, he said, particularly after 9 p.m.
"You can't watch everyone," he said. Still, 10 disturbances in going on three years are, relatively speaking, "nothing," he said.
As the Londoner's request came to a head, about 750 people signed a petition supporting it. Some posted storefront signs or praised the Londoner before the council and its advisory planning and zoning commission.
And after the council's unanimous OK on Sept. 4, adult beverages returned to the two-story brick building, circa 1890, at the southeast corner of the square.
"We can't thank them enough for what they've done," Marie Briton, the Londoner's manager, said of the pub's champions, who won't see much change in the revived operation.
State law requires that a private club's patrons be members of the establishment. But the serving of alcoholic beverages is otherwise no different than at other types of bars or restaurants. And the city permit now requires that the Londoner derive at least 35 percent of its revenues from food sales.
"We just have to scan the driver's license and they are a member for a year," said Ms. Briton, who, like her boss, is a transplant from England.
Mayor Bill Whitfield said he welcomed the Londoner's public show of support but added that the council probably would have supported the pub anyway.
"I don't think the picture is as bad" as presented, the mayor said, of the police department's concerns.
The Londoner "serves a purpose," he said, in helping enliven a city core that has been rich in antique, clothing and knickknack shops – but now includes a broadening array of restaurants and 12 businesses selling alcoholic beverages.
"It's a meeting place, a place you know you can find people," said Gerhard Deffner, a downtown resident who pulled the Londoner banner behind his airplane this week.
Several downtown merchants said worries about fights and drunks are overblown.
"There is no bar atmosphere" downtown, said Brian Keffer, manager of Landon Winery at the southwest corner of the square.
"They are bringing in diversity," he said of the Londoner. "The city should approve."
