After a series of high profile late-night incidents in Highland Square blamed by city officials on a controversial bar, Akron City Council initiated a process that could lead to the closure of the bar next year.
Akron City Council voted 9-4 on Monday to pass a resolution opposing the renewal of the Highland Tavern’s liquor license in 2027. The resolution, which narrowly passed the necessary two-thirds threshold, instigates a hearing in front of the state’s Division of Liquor Control, likely later this year or early next year, according to the city. That’s where the city and the bar’s owner will make their cases about whether the bar should be allowed to continue to sell alcohol.
The four council members who voted against the resolution wanted to give the bar owner more time to address the issues raised by the city before going to the liquor board, but proponents noted the resolution can be withdrawn ahead of any hearings.
The resolution comes a month after three people were shot at 1:30 a.m. outside of the small West Market Street bar, which regularly promotes events that draw packed crowds inside and dozens of people gathering on the sidewalks outside.
The June shooting came eight months after a bystander was shot and killed as multiple people fired shots at each other outside the bar.
“We’ve really tried to be in good relationship with everybody in the Square,” said Akron Council Person Fran Wilson, whose ward encompasses Highland Square, at City Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting on Monday afternoon. “We’ve had and seen an overwhelming amount of issues on too many things regarding this particular property and business.”
Chun Yee Au, an attorney representing the bar’s owner, addressed the full City Council during the public comment period later that day to lobby against the resolution.
“Highland Tavern hasn’t been given the time to respond, to address the misunderstanding and review the evidence,” the attorney said. “We actually made public records requests for any evidence regarding this allegation, and we take this allegations seriously. We believe there is no evidence to show that Highland Tavern has a higher crime rate or higher rate of 911 phone calls or issues compared to other bars in Highland Square. And we don’t understand why Highland Tavern is being targeted. We also don’t understand why there is such an emergency here.”
Craig Morgan, the city’s chief of public safety, told council members the city’s decision to oppose Highland Tavern’s liquor license was based on the frequent police responses in the last two years.
41 police responses to Highland Tavern since August of 2024
Akron Police Department records obtained by Signal Akron document 41 police responses listing Highland Tavern’s address since August of 2024.
While some of those calls listing Highland Tavern indicate no wrongdoing by anybody associated with the bar — a manager’s ID that was found and returned, somebody walking up and down West Market Street, for example — the records document frequent issues there in the weeks leading up to the June 7 shooting that led to outcry from the city.
Records show between May 3 and the shooting five weeks later, police responded to the bar at least 11 times times, including:
- At 1:49 a.m. on May 3 — APD records noted “ROUGHLY 20 PEOPLE FIGHTING” at the bar.
- At 4:08 p.m. on May 5 — APD records show a 911 caller reported that a man was assaulted at the bar.
- At 2:37 a.m. on May 9 — bar security reported a fight inside the bar.
- At 8:34 p.m. on May 17 — APD records showed Morgan, the safety director, called a police lieutenant about a planned “pool party” at Highland Tavern. “Upon arrival, police observed two inflatable pools in the barricaded area” in the blocked-off parking spots outside the bar. The manager moved the inflatable pools to the back. Inside the bar, police spotted that the occupancy limit sign had been altered from 70 people to 170 people.
- Hours later, more than a dozen officers responded to the bar, arrested an armed man and detained an underage drinker. They reported seeing many people drinking on the sidewalks from cups that came from inside the bar, music from a DJ that could be heard behind the businesses across the street and people smoking marijuana. The bar was occupied by far more people than legally allowed.
- At 10:01 p.m. on May 24 — after the fire department temporarily shut down the bar for occupancy violations, police noted people were still inside.
- At 1:22 a.m. on May 31 — a woman called 911 to report that bar security opened the bathroom stall on her and “everyone saw her exposed.”
- At 12:48 a.m. on June 7 — roughly 45 minutes before the shooting, APD noted a fight at the bar.
Days after the shooting, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, Police Chief Brian Harding, Morgan and Wilson held a press conference at the nearby Mustard Seed Market & Cafe to decry Highland Tavern and to announce that the other bars in the area agreed to close at midnight during the upcoming weekend to raise attention for the issue.
“We need people in our community who are participating in takeovers, like what we saw last weekend here in Highland Square, to understand the danger of the situation that they’re part of,” Malik said on June 12. “We are pursuing every legal tool available to us when we see reckless business practices like we’ve seen here at Highland Tavern.”
At Monday’s City Council meeting, Morgan explained to council members that the resolution they’d soon vote on was the first step to revoking the liquor license. All existing liquor licenses have to be renewed with the state annually, Morgan said. Bars in Summit County have to submit their applications by Oct. 1. Cities must submit objections to the bars by Sept. 1.
City Council’s resolution instigates a local hearing where both sides present their case. If the state sides with the city, the bar owner can appeal to the liquor board in Columbus.
