By Sam Thomas
BLOOMINGTON – Crawford’s Corner Pub could be the next inhabitant of the building that once housed historic Beningo’s Restaurant in Bloomington.
Their request for a TAS liquor license allowing the serving of alcohol seven days a week was recommended for approval by the Bloomington liquor commission at a special meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Longtime west-side residents Bobby Crawford and Larry Salvator would be the proprietors of the new pub, and Crawford told the commission they are prepared to make extensive renovations to the building pending approval of their liquor license application.
“An empty lot on the west side of Bloomington is never a good thing,” Crawford said. “And I think if you ask Janet [Whitworth] she would say the same thing. People aren’t knocking down the door to buy this business. We’re looking to invest more than $100,000 into the business and we’ll be upgrading the building.”
Janet Whitworth, former owner of Beningo’s Restaurant, was on hand Tuesday to lend her support to the Crawford’s Corner Pub request.
“I think that these young men have a great vision for this,” Whitworth said. “It is solid, it is doable and I back it…nobody takes care of their business like the people that live [in the neighborhood.]”
But the request didn’t come without some opposition.
David Sharar, Chief Medical Officer at Chestnut Health Systems, said the locations proximity to Chestnut’s Drug Addiction Treatment Center at 702 W. Chestnut could create triggers for some recovering addicts.
“Our clientele and our patients would not be able to enter our treatment program or exit without seeing the signage and that bar directly across the street,” he said. “Many of them in their first 90 days of treatment are at great risk for relapse.”
Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner-currently the only acting member of the liquor commission-shared many of those concerns, but said he felt at ease after the large show of neighborhood support.
Renner ultimately recommended that the establishment close at 11:00 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and at 12:00 a.m. Friday-Saturday, with the condition that the pub could approach the liquor commission after six months to change the closing hours to 12:00 a.m. during the week and 1:00 a.m. on weekends if no issues arise.
The Bloomington City Council will vote on final approval at their Nov. 8 meeting.
Contact Sam Thomas at [email protected]
