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Report: State lawmakers stall plan to extend Boston’s nightlife hours to 4 a.m.


A proposal to push back the closing times for bars and nightclubs around Boston has stalled, according to the Boston Globe today. The plan would have permitted venues to stay open until 4 a.m., enhancing the city’s nightlife and after hours activity, but lawmakers have cited diminished “quality of life” in the proposed neighborhoods and a fear of increased drunk driving.


Currently, all establishments must shutter by 2 a.m. Earlier this year, Mayor Marty Walsh announced he was seeking studies in extending Boston bars’ closing time in select neighborhoods. Under the study, a task force of roughly 15 people would be assembled and bars would stop serving booze at 2:30 a.m. but be allowed to stay open later, eliminating the 2 a.m. mass exodus from clubs currently experienced in Allston.

But the end result is currently shelved.

From today’s Globe:

The compromise state budget that emerged late Sunday left out a provision sought by Mayor Martin J. Walsh that would have permitted Boston-area bars and restaurants to stay open until 4 a.m.

Included in the Senate budget, the late-night license measure was highlighted by City Hall officials as a way of making Boston more attractive to foreign travelers accustomed to later closing hours.

But a group of city lawmakers actively opposed the later closing hours, saying they would diminish the quality of life in their neighborhoods, and lead to more drunk driving.

Their opposition set up a potential battle between Walsh and a group of his former colleagues in the Boston delegation, many of whom had backed his opponents in last year’s mayoral race. Walsh, according to several people with knowledge of the debate, did not strenuously lobby House lawmakers to agree to the Senate language.

Stay tuned…