• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Wellesley Square
  • School news
  • Private schools, sponsored by Riverbend
  • Camp
  • Kids
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Business news
  • Embracing diversity
  • Seniors
  • Letters to the editor
  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • Fire & police scanner
  • Worship
  • Deland, Gibson Insurance Athlete of the Week
  • Raiders sports schedules & results
  • Live gov’t meetings
  • 2023 Town Election
  • Events
  • About us
  • Natick Report
 
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

Wellesley ends its brand of prohibition at restaurants

November 24, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Not that Wellesley doesn’t want you to chow down at its restaurants, but you now can order an alcoholic beverage in the town’s eating establishments without swearing that you’ll have a meal.

The Select Board voted Monday during its Nov. 22 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording) to make significant changes to Wellesley’s alcoholic beverage rules and regulations, including the limit on bar seating to 10% of capacity and the Intent to Dine provision that frustrated restaurant owners and customers alike. The hope is that this update will encourage more restaurants to come to town, and will boost business for existing establishments. The town looks to be more welcoming to restaurants, though isn’t wooing straight-out bars (still no pitchers of beer and food must be available at a restaurant’s bar).

wellesley craft beer experience

The discussion and vote followed discussion and public comments at the previous Select Board meeting a week before.

This isn’t one of those decisions that now needs to go through a string of other approvals either. The updated policy—embedded below—is in effect.

The changes complement other efforts by the town to make itself friendlier to restaurants and diners. During Special Town Meeting in the fall Town Meeting members overwhelmingly voted in favor of rules making it easier for restaurants to offer outdoor dining. During Annual Town meeting this past spring, members voted in favor of allowing establishments with fewer than 50 seats to serve alcoholic beverages.

At the start of the year nearly half of Wellesley’s available alcohol licenses were gathering dust due to lack of interest.

Town policy changes have naturally been encouraged by restaurants and property managers looking to lure more restaurants to town.

Mark Hebert from Linden Square property manager Federal Realty said during the Nov. 15 meeting during which the most recent regulation discussion began (see Wellesley Media recording) that “the proactive approach you’ve taken out of the gate to support restaurants and landlords, I applaud your efforts…Anything that lightens and lessens some of these restrictions with bar seat limitations and Intent to Dine restrictions helps the cause for sure. Restaurants become anchor tenants for us, they become such a significant fabric of what we want to be.” Restaurants have been circling back based on what they’ve been hearing about the town’s direction, he said.

Brad Wasik from The Cheese Shop, which has been in Wellesley Square for about 45 years, said at the Nov. 15 meeting that businesses like his need help, especially with downtown destinations like CVS and Starbucks (at least temporarily) leaving.

“We definitely need help, and that help is just making things easier for any vibrant, fun, up-and-coming hungry business that might be a little bit different than the Wellesley of the past that wants to open,” Wasik said.  “Let them do their thing and let the market kind of decide what it wants to happen.”

Wellesley resident Mike Braatz added another perspective on this subject, citing during the Nov. 15 meeting the importance of having a vibrant restaurant scene to attract non-restaurant businesses to locate here. “We all realize that remote work is probably here to stay for good, but we’re also trying to give our employees reasons to come into the office…,'” he said, noting that in an employee poll that having places to socialize with colleagues is a top amenity.

The Select Board has heard the public and hopefully everyone will handle the new rules responsibly. If not, the town can always revisit them, said Select Board member Beth Sullivan Woods, sensing “a little bit of discomfort in going from very controlled to really opening it up.

“We are making in our best judgment what we think are the right changes for the community today. This is something we can adjust, it’s as simple as another review…,” she said.


P.S.

We appreciate the specific reference to online periodicals in the Application section of the updated policy and the recognition by Select Board members of using online publications like ours to help get the word out about town matters.

alc policy

 

Download (PDF, 199KB)


print

Filed Under: Business, Government

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisements:

Linden Square, Wellesley
EXPLO, Wellesley
Wellesley Hills Junior Women's Club

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Advertisements

Wellesley Square, Wellesley Merchants
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Beacon Hill Athletic Club, Wellesley
Fay School, Southborough
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Wellesley Theatre Project
Volvo
Cheesy Street Grill
Mature Caregivers
Admit Fit, Wellesley
charles river chamber
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Most Read Posts

  • Voting rights expert to give talk at Wellesley College
  • Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • EXPLO Junior summer program launches at Regis College in Weston
  • Wellesley business buzz: La Toscana's, Express Gourmet to serve alcohol; Where the town banks (not SVB!)
  • Wellesley Public Schools news: Union issues vote of no confidence as negotiations continue; DE&I director ditches 'interim' tag; 'Emotional Lives of Teens' program

Click on Entering Natick sign to read our Natick Report

Entering Natick road sign

Upcoming Events

Mar 23
9:00 am - 10:30 pm

Select Board office hours

Mar 23
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Babson Arts presents “The Forgotten Kingdom”

Mar 25
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The Lightning Thief, The Percy Jackson Musical

Mar 26
10:00 am - 10:30 am

6th annual “Plunge for Elodie”

Mar 26
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Historical lecture: The Whartons’ War

View Calendar

Popular pages

  • Wellesley’s 2023 Boston Marathon charity runners
  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads

Recent Comments

  • Charles on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • Mike on Time is right for new owners of Wellesley’s Coconut Thai Cafe
  • Ken on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • J covino on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • LADY WELLESLEY on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned

Links we like

  • Danny's Place
  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (24)
  • 2023 Town Election (13)
  • Animals (429)
  • Antiques (49)
  • Art (596)
  • Beyond Wellesley (53)
  • Books (380)
  • Business (1,568)
  • Camp (11)
  • Careers/jobs (53)
  • Churches (82)
  • Clubs (241)
  • Construction (301)
  • Dump (131)
  • Education (3,218)
    • Babson College (252)
    • Bates Elementary School (18)
    • Dana Hall School (37)
    • Fiske Elementary School (11)
    • Hardy Elementary School (48)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (47)
    • MassBay (57)
    • Schofield Elementary School (26)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (2)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (11)
    • Upham Elementary School (35)
    • Wellesley College (615)
    • Wellesley High School (1,008)
    • Wellesley Middle School (208)
  • Embracing diversity (97)
  • Entertainment (823)
  • Environment (779)
  • Fashion (145)
  • Finance (15)
  • Fire (174)
  • Food (360)
  • Fundraising (650)
  • Gardens (165)
  • Government (625)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
    • 2022 Town Election (15)
  • Health (870)
    • COVID-19 (203)
  • Hikes (6)
  • History (403)
  • Holidays (442)
  • Houses (164)
  • Humor (47)
  • Kids (869)
  • Law (8)
  • Legal notices (10)
  • Letters to the Editor (89)
  • Media (72)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (13)
  • Morses Pond (109)
  • Music (584)
  • Natick Report (30)
  • Neighbors (282)
  • Obituaries & remembrances (86)
  • Outdoors (658)
  • Parenting (63)
  • Police (786)
    • Crime (398)
  • Politics (560)
  • POPS Senior Profile (10)
  • RDF (7)
  • Real estate (348)
  • Religion (139)
  • Restaurants (345)
  • Safety (156)
  • Scouts (2)
  • Seniors (128)
  • Shopping (164)
  • Sponsored (6)
  • Sports (1,024)
    • Athlete of the Week (14)
  • STEM (109)
  • Technology (165)
  • Theatre (397)
  • Town Meeting (26)
  • Transportation (242)
  • Travel (17)
  • Uncategorized (1,246)
  • Volunteering (351)
  • Weather (180)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (282)
  • Wellesley Holiday Gift Guide (2)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (20)

© 2023 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login