Downtown Pub Ordered to Stop Pouring Drinks for Three Days

If you were wondering why Champion's Pub was closed for the past three days, it was because of a liquor law violation earlier this summer. The pub reopened for business Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Peabody police and underage operatives conducted a routine alcohol compliance check June 21 on all 80 establishments in the city licensed to sell or serve alcohol and two businesses were caught in the sting -- Champion's Pub and the Nordstrom Cafe Bistro.

Champion's owners Phil Mitchell and Kevin Houlden appeared before the city's Licensing Board last week for a hearing on the matter and chose Sept. 1-3 to serve out the days of the license suspension, according to the Salem News.

The paper reports that a 10-year employee at the pub served a Budweiser to an underage female and was fired for the mistake.

The three-day suspension was imposed because it was a second offense -- there was another violation in 2011, but that one-day penalty was held in abeyance at the time. Board members ultimately decided this time make it four days if there is a third offense in the future.

By comparison, the Nordstrom cafe was issued a warning since it was a first offense.

You can read more on this story in the Salem News here.