Manage Delivery
WICHITA — It looked like some critics of Doc Howard's Lounge might get their wish to have the bar close.
The Old Town bar shut down this week because its liquor license expired Dec. 10.
"Yeah, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that will be excited," says owner Bryan Shapiro.
The situation is only temporary, though.
The city won't renew the license until Shapiro gets a fire door for an opening at the bar, which has frequently been in the news due to fights and other disturbances in and around the business.
Shapiro says it's taking a while to get the door.
"We weren't prepared for it because we've never been asked for it before," he says. "Ten years, 10 inspections, nobody mentions the door. Now they mention the door?"
Doc Howard's has been in business almost three years, but Shapiro has had a bar of some sort in the space for a decade.
"It is what it is, and we do everything we can to comply," he says. "I don't think we have an operational issue here."
(more…)
