Owners and developers of Conway’s Family Pub have completed all the requirements for an alcohol permit from the Mississippi Department of Revenue’s Alcoholic Beverage Control, and are hopeful to re-open again soon after suspending operations four months ago pending receipt of that permit.
Darian Pierce, developer of the pub and The Colony at Turtle Creek Crossing on West 4th Street, said Conway’s has added a back patio and other measures to qualify for a special “resort area” status that would allow the sale of alcohol in otherwise “dry” Lamar County. The interior patio features air conditioning, dog-friendly space, a trinity bowl fountain and Etruscan fire pots.
“(Owners) have started hiring, and they’re in the process of going back through the health department approval and getting back all their licenses updated,” Pierce said. “The tenant controls the opening date, but I would think it would be sometime in June.
“I really hate to say that, because they’re the ones who have to process their licenses, and if they get behind, they can’t get it open. So I’d say a matter of a few short weeks.”
Conway’s Family Pub suspended operations in early January, after owners struggled to meet their financial goals because of the exclusion of alcohol sales. Because Lamar County is considered a dry county, alcohol sales and consumption are not allowed except within Hattiesburg city limits, which stop just a few feet short of the pub.
Early last year, officials from Pub Life LLC, the owners of the property, filed a petition that would allow Conway’s Family Pub to be taken into the city limits, and Hattiesburg City Council members voted in May not to object to the petition. Shortly thereafter, however, the Lamar County Board of Supervisors objected to the process, filing a response that stated the inclusion of the property into the city was not reasonable or a public convenience.
“Nobody wants to own the only dry Irish pub on the planet, but that’s the way politics rolled us,” Pierce said. “But we’re super-ecstatic, and I can’t wait to give my home town something it’s never had before.”
Pub owners started an application for an alcohol petition back in December, but ABC officials inspected the facility shortly afterwards and said the property did not meet criteria for the resort area status. According to provisions of Mississippi Code 67-1-5, areas can apply for the status if the area and its related property consists of at least 8,000 heated and cooled square feet, is used to host events for a fee, and is used for the purpose of culinary arts and/or outdoor recreation and leadership courses – regulations the new patio are designed to meet.
According to a news release issued in January by Pub Life LLC, since Conway’s Family Pub opened on St. Patrick’s Day 2018, the facility has served as the host location for Commiskey-Wheat Detachment #1073 meetings and has served meals to first responders, Lamar County teachers and the local animal shelter. The pub also has provided fundraisers for cancer patients, catered weddings, hosted private events, taught culinary classes on Sundays, taught Irish River Dance lessons and assisted with a Christmas toy drive for the Lamar County Sheriff’s Office.
“There are restaurants that make it without (selling) alcohol, but when people hear of an Irish pub, they have certain expectations for an Irish pub to be able to have certain characteristics,” Pierce said in a previous story. “Probably every time I’m in church or in public, people keep asking me about that license, and say they would come more often or come back if we had a license. So it is something that’s expected with an Irish pub.”
