Batavia extends drinking hours to 2 a.m. daily

You can soon drink a little longer in Batavia bars and restaurants any day of the week.

The city council changed closing time to 2 a.m. Downtown bar and restaurant owners asked for the change because bars in neighboring Geneva can stay open that late.

Previously, you could drink until 2 a.m. in a bar only if it held a liquor license allowing entertainment, and only on Saturday and Sunday; otherwise, liquor service stopped at 1 a.m. Restaurants had to shut down service at 1:30 a.m. on Monday, 1 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The earliest alcohol can be sold at Batavia taverns remains the same, at noon on Sunday and 6 a.m. the rest of the week.

You can still get a Bloody Mary to go with your brunch in a restaurant at 10 a.m. on Sundays, but can't be seated at or served directly from a bar.

The change is an experiment; it will expire April 30, 2010, unless the city council says otherwise.

The government services committee, which reviewed the proposal, concluded that bar owners could make more money because people would be more likely to visit a place where they wouldn't have to leave to continue their drinking.

The committee also consulted with Geneva police, who saw no increase in problems when Geneva went to a 2 a.m. closing.

In St. Charles, you can drink from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day of the week but Sunday at bars and restaurants, and noon to 1 a.m. on Sundays. That is, unless you are attending a Champagne brunch on Sunday, in which case you can start imbibing at 10 a.m., or if you are at a resort hotel or motel, where you can drink to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and 3 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.