Prattville revokes license of hookah bar over safety concerns
PRATTVILLE — The Prattville City Council has revoked the business license of The Cloud 9 Hookah Lounge over safety concerns after the police department answered numerous calls to the location.
The business is in a shopping center in the 1700 block of East Main Street.
The business license went into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, and the bar received a liquor license from the Alabama Beverage Control Board a year later, Andrew Odom, city attorney, told the council during its Tuesday night meeting. Prattville police answered 20 calls at the business from the start of 2022 until March of this year, including times when they responded to multiple calls on the same night.
Calls ranged from disorderly conduct and harassment complaints to fights, including five calls involving firearms. One call involved shots fired in the parking lot, he said. Management also called police on three occasions asking for help in clearing crowds from the parking lot or from inside the building.
Clarence Thomas, owner of the business, could not be reached for comment. Odom told the council that Thomas emailed the city that he was not going to protest the license revocation. Odom made his report during a public hearing on the issue, held before the business portion of the meeting.
Thomas did not attend the hearing, and no one spoke in opposition to the revocation.
Rushton Williams owns a video game store that he has operated for more than 10 years in the shopping center. He told the council that his business has lost customers because of the hookah bar.
"We would open on Saturday and Monday and there would be liquor bottles all in the parking lot," he said. "I've been there 10 years and have never had any problems with any tenants until now."
The business license is not the only thing now void. ABC Board rules require a valid business license for the issuance of liquor license.
Mayor Bill Gillepsie Jr. said the city is not in the business of revoking business licenses.
"It's not a step we take lightly," he said. "But in this case we felt it was needed due to the number of calls we have gotten from the business. It had become a safety issue for both the public and our officers who responded to these calls."
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Prattville revokes license of hookah bar over safety concerns
