NEW YORK CITY STRIP CLUBS AND LIQUOR LICENSES

In recent years, Community Boards have not only been successful in preventing new strip clubs from opening in their neighborhoods, they have been working toward having the liquor licenses of existing clubs revoked. Their strategy is to use crime, noise and quality-of-life issues to appeal to the New York State Liquor Authority to have existing licenses revoked or denied renewal. They have been known to conduct their own investigations in an attempt to uncover criminal ties or criminal activity by club owners and reporting it to the SLA. They realize that a club without a liquor license cannot make enough profits to survive. It has become all but impossible to open a new club except in locations where there had previously been a strip club. The Building Department allows grandfathering in clubs that existed before 1995. The SLA considers the location of the premises and the background of the applicant when determining whether or not to grant a license, but you must realize that they place substantial weight on the recommendations of Community Boards. It is possible to litigate and overturn the SLA’s denial of a club’s liquor license, but be prepared for expensive litigation and the probability of appeals.