Tally Ho tavern given reprieve over its liquor license
The Tally Ho Bar & Restaurant in south Bethlehem, a long-renowned watering hole for locals and outsiders, has won a bar fight against the state agency that oversees its liquor license.
Northampton County Judge John M. Morganelli on Thursday nullified a July 27 decision by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board refusing to grant a renewal.
“It’s a complete win,” said Ted Zeller, an Allentown attorney who represents the Tally Ho owners. “We fought and remedied an abusive discretion by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.”
Zeller said the LCB initially took away the license and tried again to revoke the owners’ license for minor liquor code violations, including failing to establish identity — or “card” — a state police supervisor, and faulting the bar over incidents unrelated to the establishment’s operations.
Morganelli agreed with the Tally Ho owners. In a 33-page order, the judge said “we do not see the evidence in the same light as the PLCB did, nor do we draw the same conclusions as did the PLCB.” He also said the restaurant owner, Orion Restaurant Group III Inc., has addressed concerns the LCB might have regarding its operations.
Morganelli entered an order reversing a LCB ruling that put its license in a conditional licensing agreement from a period roughly running May 1, 2018, through April 30 of last year. A conditional license sets parameters for how a restaurant or bar can retain a liquor license. If such an agreement is breached, the license can be taken for safekeeping by the LCB or would need to be sold.
The Tally Ho has faced previous difficulty with the state — it was under a conditional licensing agreement since 2010, before Orion owned it — and last year, its attorney won a Commonwealth Court appeal requiring the LCB to reactivate the tavern’s license and allow it to reopen.
Thursday’s news covered another appeal, as the state had granted renewal of the liquor license while its license remained under review.
The Liquor Control Board had no comment, its spokesperson said.
— Anthony Salamone