Williamsfield upping gaming licenses

By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post

WILLIAMSFIELD – A shuttered-restaurant site in Williamsfield will have an added attraction to help lure a new tenant.

The Williamsfield Village Board decided June 2 to expand by one the number of video-gambling licenses in town, to four. That would allow the building at 102 E. Gale St., which has housed several restaurants in recent years, to house alcohol and gaming.

Building owner Lee Strom requested the gaming expansion, according to Village President Robert Johnson.
“He has several people interested in setting up a restaurant in there, but they want to have gaming machines and they want to have a liquor license,” Johnson said. “Those two things help prop up the restaurant business.”

State regulations require video-gambling facilities to have a liquor license.

The village has one liquor license available, according to Johnson, but video-gambling licenses were at the maximum. The three Billtown businesses that offer video gambling are Double Take Bar & Grill, Ladd’s Food Mart and JR Lounge.

According to Johnson, board members Nancy Everett, Lucas Leckrone and Julie Van Dran voted to authorize the additional gaming license. Trustee Dylan Tucker voted against it. Trustee Trudy Self abstained, and colleague Kyle Gibbs was absent.

“He was saying that if it’s a restaurant, it probably should be more family friendly. We don’t necessarily know if gaming and liquor are family friendly,” Johnson said about Tucker’s rationale.

Strom didn’t reveal details about what type of restaurant might occupy a space most recently occupied by Underground Backyard BBQ and by The Truro before that. Strom did say margaritas might be served by one of as many as three potential new proprietors. That suggests Mexican cuisine.

“Here’s the way I look at it: The more businesses that we have in this community, the better off we are as far as tax base,” Johnson said. “When you have empty buildings … it doesn’t look good. There’s no other place around here to get any food.”

There was no public timetable regarding when a new business might open in the Gale Street structure.

In April, Underground Backyard BBQ owner Tony Bitten announced his restaurant’s closure, about 14 months after it opened. At the same time his Billtown restaurant was open, Bitten also operated an Underground Backyard BBQ outlet briefly in Elmwood.

Board members also heard from Lee Wight of Wight Chevrolet, who is helping to organize a street dance July 19 in downtown Williamsfield.

Streets are to be blocked and a flatbed trailer – to accommodate live entertainment, presumably – is to be placed between Double Take and JR Lounge, which are across Oak Street from each other.

The last time such an event took place in Williamsfield was before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Johnson.