London outpacing Corbin in booze sales

Tax collections on alcohol sales in London for the first six months of this year more than double those taken during the same period in Corbin.
That is one of several differences apparent in an analysis of restaurants eligible to serve alcoholic beverages in both cities. The gap is surprisingly wide considering London has one less restaurant selling alcohol in its city limits than Corbin.
Corbin was the first area city to allow alcohol sales, by the drink, in certain restaurants after a voter referendum on the issue passed in 2003. There are six restaurants that serve alcohol in Corbin: Angels and Wings Sports Bar and Grill, The Vintage House, The Depot on Main, El Dorado, O’Malley’s and Buckners. Together, all six sold $521,525 worth of alcohol from January through June. The city has a six percent tax on all such sales, garnering $31,291.50 plus licensing fees.
During the same time, London’s five restaurants – Ruby Tuesday’s, O’Malley’s, Shiloh’s, Fiesta Mexican and El Dorado’s – sold $722,772.69 worth of booze. The city’s ordinance regulating alcohol sales differs a bit from Corbin’s. Passed in 2005, it requires restaurants to pay a seven percent tax on all sales to the city, meaning the city got $50,594.09. All taxes are due quarterly in Corbin; monthly in London.
Laws regarding alcohol sales in both towns also vary in another important way – London’s allows sales on Sunday while Corbin’s prohibits it.
“I definitely think it’s an argument for Sunday sales,” said Jim Vance, an influential investor and business owner from Corbin. “It’s just another day to increase sales. If you are making $42,000 a week on alcohol sales, then you could expect to make $49,000 when you add that seventh day. It makes a difference for restaurant owners.”
Vance, along with a group of nine other investors that includes former Corbin City Manager Dave Hudson, is the driving force behind Tuscany Gardens, an Italian restaurant currently under construction on Cumberland Falls Hwy. It is slated to open in late October at an estimated cost of $2 million.
Vance said he understands religious objections to Sunday sales, and proposes a compromise: sales on Sunday wouldn’t begin until 2:00 p.m.
“You wouldn’t have it at lunch so that way all the people coming from church who want to enjoy a meal could, and wouldn’t have to deal with the alcohol issue,” he said. “After that, if somebody wants to come on Sunday night and have a glass of wine with a nice dinner, they can do it.”
Vance said Sunday’s are popular days for places like Tuscany Gardens which will have a 50-seat cocktail lounge, equipped with six large-screen televisions, so that people can watch sporting events like NFL games.
“Right now, in London, they have big crowds,” he said. “If people want to watch a game and drink a beer, they just go to London. We miss out on that business.”
Corbin Mayor Amos Miller said he didn’t want to comment on the issue of Sunday sales, but said differences between alcohol related revenue in both communities is separate and distinct.
“London is London and Corbin is Corbin,” he said. “They are just two very different communities.”
Sales in London is mainly driven by two restaurants: Shiloh’s and Ruby Tuesday. Shiloh alone sold $377,049.74 worth of alcohol, nearly more than the top three restaurants in Corbin combined. Ruby Tuesday’s had $155,769.50 worth of sales.
Corbin’s top seller, Buckners, had $157,087 worth of alcohol sales, according to numbers submitted to the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Officer.
London’s five alcohol-serving restaurants generated over $5 million in gross sales during the six-month period. Corbin’s six restaurants had $2.4 million in total sales.
The issue of Sunday alcohol sales is likely to be an issue again for City Commission candidates in the November election. Joe Shelton, a local physician’s assistant, is the only current Commissioner in favor of the idea. But those dynamics could quickly change. Both mayoral candidates Dr. Truman Perry and retired Postmaster Willard McBurney haven’t taken such a hard line on the issue. Perry is for Sunday sales and McBurney said the issue deserves more study.
Former Commissioner Ed Tye, who is trying to regain a seat on the commission, is also openly supportive of the idea.
London Mayor Ken Smith, who was strong against allowing alcohol sales in his city and opposes Sunday sales, said regardless of how much money municipal governments make off alcohol sales, it isn’t right.
“It’s not good for our families,” he said. “We have Sunday sales here already. Whatever Corbin does probably won’t affect us, but to me it’s not about the money. We get about $200,000 a year off it, but it’s not worth it if one person gets out here and loses their life over it. Money is not everything.”