A contested Hampden BYOB will not be allowed to serve alcohol, Baltimore’s Board of Liquor License Commissioners ruled Thursday. But it’s likely not the last word on a saga nearly four years in the making.

The meeting marked the first time in recent history that Baltimore residents have successfully stopped a business from getting its liquor license through a law known as the “50% rule.” It states that the liquor board may not approve a license for an establishment if more than half of the people living within 200 feet of the business oppose it.

In the past, neighbors have threatened to use the rule to prod bar and restaurant owners to agree to certain operating agreements, outlined in a memorandum of understanding. In two instances last year, Fells Point residents attempted to use the nuclear option to stop businesses from selling alcohol, but both those drives failed to gather enough signatures to stop the licenses.

Hampden residents came prepared, with 38 notarized affidavits proving they opposed a license for Brick Bistro, a concept at 4001 Falls Road owned by Wayne Laing. The liquor board found that that number met the threshold required, with 64 properties within 200 feet of Brick Bistro.

The commissioners denied a motion from Laing’s attorney, Peter Prevas, to dismiss residents’ challenge on the grounds that the rule is unconstitutional. The 50% rule, he argued, delegates government authority to private individuals, who are prone to their own biases.

“The neighbors … could get up here and say, ‘We’re denying Mr. Laing here because he’s Black. And there’s nothing you can do about it,’” Prevas said. For that reason, the rule has “gotta go.” Prevas said after the hearing that he will be petitioning for judicial review from the Circuit Court of Baltimore City. Brick Bistro can also re-apply for another liquor license in six months.

After spending years opposing Laing’s plans for the neighborhood, Hampden resident Julie Smith celebrated the board’s decision. “This just shows the perseverance of the community,” she said. She alleged that even as a BYOB, the restaurant brought chaos to the area, with drivers going the wrong direction up the one-way street and crowds spilling out late in the evening. The city’s database of 311 complaints for 2025 shows one call reporting noise at the address in February.

The restaurant took the place of a renovated garage on a one-way stretch of 40th Street just off Falls Road. Laing’s business partner, Kenneth Purnell, who is also Black, said he felt racism influenced the community’s resistance to the restaurant. Hampden, a historically white and working-class neighborhood, has been slow to welcome people of color even as it has rapidly gentrified.

Purnell said neighbors turned down his invitations to come check out the spot and enjoy a meal there. “Why should I even negotiate with a person who doesn’t want to set foot in your business?” he said. “Is it because I’m a Black man?”

In recent months, neighbors accused Purnell and Laing of antisemitism when they shared an earlier name for the restaurant: Block 10, also the name of a notorious barrack at Auschwitz.

Since Laing first announced his plans for the space in 2021, the sense of mutual distrust has only grown, with both sides digging in their heels, said Councilwoman Odette Ramos. “I’ve been trying to work it out at the last minute,” she said, and met with residents and Brick Bistro’s owners on Wednesday trying to come up with a solution. “I think it’s very important that we try to work it out, and so I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to do that. And that’s just the inflexibility on both sides.”

For his part, Purnell said he was done making nice with neighbors in the wake of the board’s decision. Though he’s been shutting down the restaurant at 9 p.m. out of courtesy to the community, he said he may now stay open until 2 a.m.

“I thought we created something beautiful for the neighborhood,” Purnell said. “It turned out to be a nightmare.”