A new “bikini bar,” The Pony, will be opening just after Thanksgiving, around Dec. 1 at 115 Honest St. And it will be able to sell beer after the Chattanooga Beer Board approved giving the establishment a consumer beer permit at a meeting Thursday morning. That came after the decision had been postponed twice before to determine if requirements in the beer ordinance had been met.-
This bar is a non-conforming use within the designated city zone. The building formerly was Babe’s Sports Bar, Grill and Showbar with adult entertainment. According to the Chattanooga beer code, that use can be grandfathered in and allowed to continue if there has not been a lapse of more than 100 days from when the previous business was in operation. The first postponement for giving the license to sell beer was made to clarify the definition of a bikini bar and to verify if the application for the new business was within 100 days.
The owner, Worldwide Ministries, LLC, doing business as The Pony, plans to open as a bar and transition into a bikini bar. Assistant City Attorney Kathryn McDonald said that according to the city’s beer ordinance there is no difference in the two and the owners would not be required to reapply.
The second time the application was heard, the beer board members had done Internet searches themselves and said they identified red flags. Before making a decision at the Oct. 20 meeting, they requested to have an extensive TBI background check done for the three out-of-state applicants: Charles G. Westlund, Harry V. Mohoney and Kenneth J. Kummerow. This was done before Thursday’s meeting.
Chattanooga Beer Inspector Sergeant Jason Wood told the board that there are two kinds of TBI background checks. The first shows only information from the state of Tennessee. The second type of check requires fingerprints and the information gathered extends to other states. This more extensive check was used for the three owners of Worldwide Ministries and came back clean. However, the Chattanooga beer ordinance only requires the check be done for the last 10 years.
Beer Board Member Vince Butler member commented that he is not sure he wants the bar in Chattanooga, but under the law the board has to issue a beer permit. He then said he encouraged Mike Dickinson, director of operations in Tennessee, to make sure there are no violations because “all eyes will be on you.”
This application is expected to cause changes to be made to the city’s beer code. The board has requested that doing a TBI background check with fingerprints become part of the application process to receive a beer license. If that is on the application, it becomes a public record. They also would like for the check to extend farther back than 10 years.