Brookhaven becomes latest DeKalb city to allow open alcohol consumption in ‘entertainment district’

City spokesperson Burke Brennan said local businesses asked the city to proceed with the idea, which has been implemented in other cities, such as Avondale Estates, Dunwoody, Chamblee and Tucker. Decatur has an open container ordinance that also functions like an entertainment district. The city commission made that ordinance permanent in 2021.

“It’s been bubbling around for years, and this is at the behest of the restaurateurs along the corridor and the chamber of commerce,” Brennan said. “It was talked about extensively during the COVID pandemic.”

It’s too early to tell whether the district will be a boon to local restaurants.

Avondale Estates City Manager Patrick Bryant doesn’t have data to support the effectiveness of its entertainment district, but anecdotally he thinks it has brought people into the city’s downtown. The city created its entertainment district in 2021.

“Since we’ve implemented it, we’ve seen a steady increase of visitors to our downtown,” Bryant said. “Can we correlate that directly? No, but it is a huge benefit to downtown businesses that people can grab a drink and walk around and visit others while they’re consuming and also enjoy our public space. It’s been well received. The breweries like it. I haven’t had any complaints from anybody.”

The entertainment district in Avondale provides a link between businesses that are a part of the city’s thriving brewery scene, which includes Lost Druid, Wild Heaven and Little Cottage.

Lost Druid owner Stacia Familo-Hopek said she doesn’t go through a lot of the special cups for the district, but said it’s something that makes Avondale a more fun place to visit.

“I think it is just interesting for folks who want to walk between the breweries,” she said. “It gives them the opportunity to take a cup with them. It’s been an interesting talking point.”

She predicted that when Avondale Estates completes a project that will narrow U.S. 278/North Avondale Road and make it more pedestrian friendly, the entertainment district will be a helpful thing to have.

“I think it’s the way it kind of reinforces the flexibility we have within the city for people to move around,” she said. “Once North Avondale gets the road construction done, to shrink down the road and reinforce pedestrian traffic, it will drive more of that.”

The city of Tucker created its entertainment district in 2021. According to the Tucker Northlake-CID, the city always had open alcohol consumption, even though it was technically not legal. The law was just never enforced.

“The Downtown Tucker Master Plan, jointly funded by the City of Tucker and the Tucker-Northlake CID in 2020, recommended creating an entertainment district that would remove the prohibition,” the CID said in a post from 2022. “The City Council approved the creation of an entertainment district in 2021 (Effective January 1, 2022). This enables those who purchase alcoholic beverages for consumption, from businesses licensed to serve alcohol within the district boundaries, to drink responsibly within the right of way.”

Chamblee created its entertainment district in 2023.

“This new ordinance will go into effect July 1, 2023, to promote increased social activities and pedestrian traffic in downtown Chamblee and to expand entertainment options involving alcoholic beverages within the Downtown Entertainment District,” the city announced in 2023. “The Downtown Entertainment District stretches from Ingersoll Rand Drive to McGaw Drive.”

Dunwoody created an entertainment district in 2020, and now has four of them.

This story was provided by WABE content partner Decaturish.