Our Daily Show Interview! Alderwoman 2nd Ward Pfister
ALTON – Alderwoman Martha Pfister is proposing an ordinance to close all bars in Alton at 1 a.m. after late night liquor licenses were revoked for two downtown bars.
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The late night liquor licenses for Pour Decisions and Hiram’s Bar previously allowed the businesses to sell alcohol as late as 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends. Business owners associated with both establishments have indicated these were some of their most profitable hours.
Before the late night license for Pour Decisions was revoked, co-owner Brian Trust accused the city of unfairly targeting his business over loitering and other issues that have persisted throughout downtown even before the bar opened. He suggested the city either allow Pour Decisions to keep its license or shut down all bars at 1 a.m., leading to the launch of his Stand Up Alton movement.
After meeting with Alton Police Chief Jarrett Ford about the topic earlier this summer, Pfister is now introducing an ordinance to close all bars in Alton at 1 a.m.
“They were handling those two bars, but I also was hearing a lot about fairness,” Pfister said. “If that is taken care of, are those issues going to be elsewhere? Is it fair to everybody?”
Pfister sees this ordinance as an extension of her campaign focus on improving the safety of downtown Alton for local families.
“Thinking about why I wanted to run, a lot of it was livability,” she said. “I want things to be family friendly and feel safe, feel inviting.”
However, Pfister cautioned against calls for a “heavy police presence” downtown, emphasizing a desire to keep residents and visitors alike from feeling intimidated. Rather than diverting Alton’s law enforcement resources to just one area, Pfister called for greater enforcement of speeding within her ward and more to promote safety and livability throughout Alton neighborhoods.
“People want more sidewalks, they want to be able to walk around,” Pfister said. “Those are things I do really care about, and if we are focusing all of our safety resources in one spot, that’s not really fair to all these other things.”
Pfister’s bar closure ordinance will first take the form of a resolution, which she has referred to the Committee of the Whole for consideration at their next meeting on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025 at 6 p.m. She supports her fellow aldermen speaking with bar owners and constituents in their wards as they consider how they plan to vote.
“If it passes, bars would have until the end of the year to retain the license they’ve already been granted by the city, but it would expire at the end of the year and not be able to be renewed,” she explained.
Overall, Pfister is optimistic that the two-hour difference will have a positive impact on downtown Alton.
“If we can keep people from having those additional two hours of drinking more, making decisions that they wouldn’t make if they had not been drinking those two hours, I’m hopeful that that would make a change,” she said.
If passed by the committee, Pfister’s resolution would go next to the City Council for approval, then go through the standard ordinance approval process with a first and second reading at future meetings. Stay tuned to Riverbender.com for the latest coverage as the item makes its way through the Alton Committee of the Whole and City Council.
For more insights on the 1 a.m. bar closure ordinance and more from Alton’s Ward 2 Alderwoman, see the full Our Daily Show! interview with Pfister at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
