More than 20 states have laws banning or limiting happy hours at bars and restaurants. Now, some are revisiting these regulations in an effort to boost commerce in struggling downtown districts.
Some states are reevaluating their restrictions on downtown happy hours at bars and restaurants in an attempt to bring more people — and money — back to floundering downtown economies.
According to a Route Fifty article by Kaitlyn Levinson, happy hours were banned or restricted in some states after a rash of high-profile drunk driving deaths in the 1980s. However, research has not borne out a connection between discounted alcohol hours and higher car crash rates.
Now, some states are looking to expand happy hours or reduce restrictions to encourage more business at downtown establishments. In Massachusetts, a proposal to overturn a 1984 law banning happy hours awaits passage from the state’s House of Representatives.
Some cities are also establishing outdoor drinking zones where people can walk around with alcoholic beverages. “The ‘sip and stroll’ model could even have a bigger economic impact than expanded happy hour laws,” Levinson writes.
FULL STORY: Can happy hour attract people downtown again?
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