Thirsty? Peabody Has 20 New Liquor Licenses To Grant

PEABODY, MA -- Peabody will stagger the issuance of 20 new liquor licenses that were approved by the Massachusetts legislature and signed by Gov. Charlie Baker last month. Peabody plans to grant four of the new licenses downtown, four in the Route 1 corridor and one in the area of Centennial Drive. Once those nine licenses have been distributed, the remaining 11 licenses will be granted.

As part of the City Council request to the state for 20 additional liquor licenses, the city agreed to distribute them throughout Peabody. While the emphasis in recent years has put a focus on downtown redevelopment, City Council signaled that it wanted the new licenses -- and presumably the new businesses that would apply for them -- to be distributed evenly throughout the city.

With the new licenses, the city now has 11 beer and wine licenses and 90 all-alcohol licenses. License holders pay $2,250 annually to the city, plus an initial $250 application fee to the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. Peabody last expanded the number of liquor licenses in the city in 2014, when it added 10.

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).