The Dispatch wrote
A beer with your bait
Monday, March 31, 2008
BY MARK FERENCHIK
The owner of a modest fishing shop in the Brewery District wants to build a bar to sell beer with the bait. A little nightcap to go with your night crawlers.
“We want to open this thing up and have a little fun with it,” said Bill Wentzel, who has run R&R Sports Headquarters at 781 S. Front St. for more than 30 years.
He wants to build a 450-square-foot patio out back for the summer months and carve out 300 square feet inside to sell beer, wine and maybe some sandwiches and pizza from about 4 p.m. to midnight. It’ll be small — 15 seats inside and 18 outside. “Everything will be real nice. First-class,” the 70-year-old Wentzel said.
The problem is, some neighbors don’t want it, fearing more parking headaches, noise and crime. Wentzel lost a fight over parking last week: The city said he needs seven spaces if he wants to open the bar and patio; he didn’t want to add any parking.
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