The Hotel Holley operating at 153 Main St. in Bradford has been stripped of its liquor license.
The decision was unanimous on the part of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, a spokesperson explained Monday.
“This licensee was up for renewal,” the spokesperson explained. The license was issued to Joseph Troutman Sr. doing business as the Hotel Holley. The Riddell House bar and Holley Express are both impacted as well.
The spokesperson said the license had expired July 31, 2015, and the establishment was operating under an extension while the application for renewal was being reviewed. A meeting was held Oct. 26 where the board members voted on the license, the spokesperson said.
“The board’s decision was not to renew the license,” she explained. “The decision was through our nuisance bar program.”
In this instance, she said, “there were too many citations and police incidents, and the board voted not to renew the license.”
The spokesperson said Troutman “can appeal to the county court” to challenge the board’s ruling.
Reached by phone Monday afternoon, Troutman said he isn’t sure what he’s going to do.
“It’s up to my attorney,” he said. “I really don’t know what I want to do.”
He added that in his opinion, the City of Bradford was behind this move.
“The city was involved in this,” Troutman said. Referring to the police incidents mentioned in the board’s letter, he said, “Probably 90 percent of them were domestics. This is the Heartbreak Hotel. This is where people go when they leave their girlfriend or boyfriend.”
Bradford City Police Chief Chris Lucco said the city police do not have jurisdiction over matters regarding a liquor license. However, he did explain what the board requires of police departments with establishments in their jurisdiction.
“Every year the liquor control board sends out a list of establishments within our jurisdiction and they ask if any of the bars are a nuisance establishment,” Lucco said, “by mere number of calls in or around that establishment.”
Hotel Holley is not the only facility that has made the list. “At one point or another, most establishments in the city have been on it.”
The chief explained, “From there we just go through that list and if the officers recognize or identify one of the facilities on that list as a problem area, we answer in the affirmative that establishment is a problem.
“It doesn’t ask for a number of incidents,” he explained. “We’ve been doing that for years. On occasion we’d get a follow-up call and then they’d look into it further from there.”
Lucco said he wasn’t sure what spurred this decision on behalf of the board.
“Early this year, Liquor Control was requesting any documented incidents with the Hotel Holley over the past several years,” Lucco said. City police gave them the information that was requested. The board “subsequently scheduled a hearing and almost half of the officers, including myself, were subpoenaed to testify.”
That hearing ended the city police’s involvement.
Lucco added, “From a police department standpoint, we have had establishments that have been more problematic than the Holley and were able to remain in business. For whatever reason the Liquor Control Board revoked Mr. Troutman’s license, I don’t feel it was only dependent on police incidents.”
No further details were offered by the Liquor Control Board as to specific incidents which lead to the revocation decision.
What will happen next with the establishment has yet to be decided.
For now, Troutman said, the restaurant Holley Express is staying open, “we just can’t serve alcohol.”
The restaurant has been gaining in popularity, he added.
“I think we have a good thing going there,” he said.
