A new nightclub will be opening at 1208 King St., Unit 120, by Brian Joyce, the co-owner of the former Blue Light. That bar was located on Station Street for just two years. It opened toward the end of August 2021 and just several months later had its beer license suspended for violations to the city beer code.
Over the next two years, the beer license was suspended multiple times and then revoked for violations including disorders and fights on the premises, the failure to properly report the incidents to the Chattanooga police, and operation during times the city ruled they were to be closed.
Each time the license was suspended Mr. Joyce appealed the decision and during that process was able to continue to sell beer. Each time, he was also told to create and put a security plan in place with the help from Beer Inspector Jason Wood. But a plan was never developed and presented to the beer board.
Mr. Joyce accused the city of targeting the Blue Light and its clientele and the case finally ended in Chancery Court. When the bar’s liquor license expired in August 2023, the state did not renew it. and Mr. Joyce voluntarily dismissed the appeals stemming from the beer violations. When the doors closed for good at the end of August 2023, Mr. Joyce said he let the beer license expire.
But at the beer board meeting Thursday, Assistant City Attorney Kathryn McDonald said the earlier revocation of the beer license stands after Mr. Joyce dropped the appeal, and that it still exists, meaning the beer license is still revoked. She said that a new license can be issued even if the old one is active, only after a period of one year. And it is now is past that one year mark. “I planned this out with that in mind,” said Mr. Joyce. “Everybody needed a cool-down.”
While considering whether to approve Mr. Joyce for another beer permit at a new location, the Chattanooga Beer Board members questioned him about how he planned to make the new club named “Mint” different. Mr. Joyce replied that first, he is the sole owner, the food will be different since the new space has a full kitchen, the décor, the type of entertainment, he said and that “he would be appealing to a different audience in a different part of town,” and not trying to attract the Station Street crowd. The location of the new club is just three blocks from Station Street where Blue Light was located.
Mr. Joyce was given a beer permit for Mint with a vote of six in favor and only Veronica Dunson and Vice Chairman J.W. Cole voting no.
Despite the history of guns and fights and disorderly conduct around the Blue Light, no beer board member addressed the biggest concern which is security at Mint. Nobody asked what the security plan would be, said Calendra Smith with the Hamilton County Coalition. She is the beer board’s official advisor and trainer in beer sales. Nobody asked him how he planned to prevent overserving or ensure safety, she said. The Coalition’s purpose is to keep the community safe, she told the board, and that it is important to know the business owner’s plan while considering the application.
Mr. Joyce told the board that the relationship and communication of expectations from his new landlord will make Mint successful, something he did not have from his landlord on Station Street. He said that his new landlord Jimmy White, president of Urban Story Ventures, is hands-on and their ideas are in sync with his.
Wanderlinger Brewing Company has recently moved out of the 6,000 square foot space that the new bar will occupy and Mr. Joyce said the business plan that the developer wants is to continue with late night entertainment with live bands or DJs, and dancing. On Tuesday through Thursday it will close at midnight, and on Thursday-Saturday, it will open at five and close at 2:30 a.m.