Alton City Council Meeting: 7/23/2025
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ALTON – An Alton business owner says the city’s recent decision to revoke the late night liquor licenses of two downtown bars is unfairly forcing her business to close during its most profitable hours.
The City of Alton announced on Monday, July 21, 2025 that the late night liquor licenses for Hiram’s Bar and Pour Decisions were being revoked following a hearing led by Mayor and Liquor Control Commissioner David Goins. Late night liquor licenses allow businesses to sell liquor from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Christina Hurley, owner of Stina Snacks (located inside Hiram’s Bar), said at Wednesday’s City Council meeting that the forced early closure will have devastating effects on her business.
“It’s not fair to us to have the most profitable hours cut down,” Hurley said. “It’s the most profitable hours for the kitchen and for the bar, so the city not only hurt Hiram’s Bar but my restaurant business as well.”
Hurley said she has evidence that violent incidents have decreased over the past year and a half at Hiram’s. She also submitted a “plan of action” to have all bars that remain open until 3 a.m. adopt security measures similar to those at Hiram’s, including a cover charge, wrist bands, and additional security personnel.
Hurley said the bar has seen a “tremendous amount of change” since implementing these measures, as wrist bands help visually distinguish customers from loiterers – still, she acknowledged a need for more solutions downtown.
“Downtown specifically does need help cleaning up the streets,” Hurley said. “Our bar cannot possibly control everything that goes on outside and we don’t condone what’s going on out there, it actually hurts our business. So instead of pointing fingers, can we please work together and help clean this up without trying to shut small businesses down?”
As part of the city’s announcement that both licenses were being revoked, Alderwoman Martha Pfister announced plans to introduce an ordinance which would revoke the late night liquor licenses of all bars in Alton, requiring each of them to close at 1 a.m. Hurley said this would eliminate a major source of income not only for her family, but for the city itself.
“Shutting down all bars at 1 [a.m.] will send the city’s tax dollars to surrounding cities, and these businesses need the revenue,” she said. “I have kids to take care of and this is our source of income. We have nothing else, all of my time and money goes into my business to make it better. I’m trying to be a part of the solution to help downtown, not make it worse.”
Brian Trust, co-owner of Pour Decisions bar – which also had its late night liquor license revoked – signed up to speak under Public Comment but was not present at the meeting.
A full recording of the July 23, 2024 Alton City Council meeting is available at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
