Metro Council votes to allow bars to open on Sunday

Bar owners and patrons of Baton Rouge may soon be raising a glass to the Metro Council, as Wednesday night the council voted 8-3 to allow bars to operate on Sunday between the hours of 11 a.m. and midnight. Stores will also be able to sell alcohol before 11 a.m. A controversial separate proposal to allow bars to extend their hours until 4 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays was deleted from the agenda by its sponsor, Councilman Ulysses “Bones” Addison.

With football season in full swing, Downtown Development District Executive Director Davis Rhorer notes that this is obviously a busy season for local bars, and many of them downtown with flat-screen TVs will likely take advantage of the opportunity to draw Sunday crowds as soon as they can. “It gives the whole arts and entertainment center a little more life,” he says. The law will go into effect in 12 days, or when and if Mayor Kip Holden signs it into law. Click here to read a blog entry by 225 contributor Slater McKay about how this change will likely affect local businesses.—Adam Pearson and Rachael Upton