Politics & Government

Liquor Licenses Go Under the Gun

Many Barrington businesses or clubs that serve or sell alcohol are not in full compliance with local liquor training laws and could have their licenses revoked.

The usual routine renewal of liquor licenses each fall by the Barrington Town Council was hardly that this week.

The Town Council applied a contingency on Monday, Nov. 5, that could cost a restaurant, club or liquor store in Barrington their license if it is not met by the end of November.

The contingency is that every holder of a liquor license must make sure that everyone who serves or sells alcohol for them must complete the annual Barrington Liquor Training (BLT) offered by The BAY Team, Barrington’s substance abuse prevention coalition. Many businesses or clubs are not in compliance.

Find out what's happening in Barringtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The training takes about 90 minutes, said Kathy Sullivan, program manager for The BAY Team. Trainings were offered most recently on Oct. 23 and Oct. 24.

The establishments that are in full compliance are the American Legion, Chiazza Trattoria & Bar, and Grapes & Grains liquor store. Their licenses are safe.

Find out what's happening in Barringtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The establishments that are not in full compliance include: Barrington Yacht Club, Billy’s restaurant, Brickyard Wine & Spirits, the Democratic Club, Piezoni’s, Rhode Island Country Club, Sushi Express, Tyler Point Grille and Tong-D restaurant.

Two establishments – Piezoni’s and Sushi Express – are in complete violation, the Town Council was informed. They have failed to attend any trainings and both restaurants have been cited for having an untrained server serve alcohol. The latter had a server serve alcohol to a minor working as a police decoy and was fined $250 in court after the business was busted.

Several business owners, including Billy Dessel of Billy’s and Giovani Cicone of Brickyard Wine & Spirts, explained that one or two of their employees were unable to attend the most recent RBS training sessions. But they said they would make sure they were in full compliance by the end of November.

There were no Barrington liquor training sessions scheduled for this month, said Sullivan. But The BAY Team will schedule an additional live training session or provide video training this month for all servers who must still be trained, she said.

It is now up to each establishment not in full compliance to train all of their servers. Their liquor licenses will become void automatically on Dec. 1 if they don’t comply, Town Solicitor Mike Ursillo told the council.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here