some cursory impressions from tonight's World of Beer meeting

[ron_newman]

I went to most of tonight's community meeting about World of Beer and the Social Security Buliding. My impressions follow. If you also attended, please add your comments to this post.

- The landlord wants to subdivide the space into three stores. The front would become a Petco, with entrance on Elm Street. The middle would become World of Beer, with entrance on Chester Street. He has no definite plans or tenant for the back, which presumably would also be entered from Chester Street.

- The prospective franchisee is from Florida. He wants to open 11 Worlds of Beer throughout eastern Massachusetts, but he evidences little understanding of our local area. He said his tavern would differentiate from other local bars because it would not serve Bud and Miller macrobrews .... but he doesn't realize that people here are much more likely to order Sam or Harpoon by default rather than any macrobrew. He had never heard of local brewers Slumbrew or Pretty Things. He said that his tavern would be run better than "99%" of the local places, not understanding that he was insulting local business people.

- Earlier Worlds of Beer served no food and allowed people to bring their own food, but the franchise no longer works that way. This one would sell food, but the menus he passed around were pretty unimpressive.

Most of the meeting attendees had a mildly negative reaction to the presentation. Several people said that Davis Square has enough places already that serve beer, including craft beers; they mentioned Redbones, Foundry, and Five Horses, among others. One person suggested Assembly Row as a better place to locate this franchise. Another said that she knew some people in Maine who would like to rent the same space for a 'high-end' tea parlor.

I sensed a general unease with the idea of a national franchise from the South coming into the square, and a preference for retail shops over more alcohol-serving bars and restaurants.

[Earlier posts about this: one, two]

Comments

[wkathym.livejournal.com]

Ok, so if one compares the proposed World of Beer, which I am against, with another beer-centric place, with a HUGE bar, like Mead Hall in Cambridge (which my husband and I love), you can see that it's not just the idea of a place that serves beer that bothers me. It's the idea of a place serving cheap food (wings, fries) washed down with beer. Doesn't sound to me like that would attract the diverse groups of people that live in the Davis Square area. It's geared mainly towards college students. They already have enough suitable places in Davis. Or am I wrong?

Would love to see a variety of places go into that space (or part of it). A tea parlor, serving excellent bakery items, a first-rate restaurant along the lines of Eastern Standard, Hammersely Bistro, Craigie, etc.), a produce/local meats store, a shoe store (The Tannery??).

I guess only chains and bars that sell a large amount of alcohol can afford the sky-high rents in Davis.