Lexington could see expansion of Sunday alcohol sales

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - The Lexington Urban County Council green-lit a motion Tuesday to continue the conversation around expanding alcohol sales on Sundays.

“I think it’s just something that nobody’s tried to change, it’s just been grandfathered in and grandfathered in,” said Emilee Sierp, the owner of Proud Mary BBQ in Lexington.

Current rules restrict restaurants and retailers from selling alcohol such as beer and wine before 11 a.m. on Sundays. For liquor, the restriction is in place until 1 p.m. During the rest of the week, sales can begin at 6 a.m.

The change is backed by the Kentucky Restaurant Association.

“We just feel like it would simplify things to make it the same time every single day for operators and for their diners,” said Stacy Roof, the President and CEO of the Kentucky Restaurant Association.

The change would not require businesses to serve alcohol earlier in the day.

“If a business feels strongly about it, they can still say ‘we serve at X o’clock’,” Roof said.

For Proud Mary BBQ, the lifting of restrictions could allow them to expand their hours on Sundays, permitting them to serve more customers every week.

“It will definitely help with alcohol sales,” said Sierp. “We were thinking about opening at 10 o’clock on Saturday and Sundays going forward just because we would be able to sell the alcohol, and you’ve got to have a mimosa with your brunch.”

According to Roof, the change would allow businesses to expand the services that they can provide to their customers.

“Any opportunity we have, we want to promote the ability for operators to have as many tools as they can at their disposal to attract guests and to keep guests, and to never have to say no or turn anybody away if they’re looking for something in that operation,” said Roof.

The Urban County Council voted to allow the ordinance to go forward, with two council members opposing the ordinance.

The ordinance is expected to be presented to the Social Services and Public Safety Committee on Nov. 14.

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