On Monday, March 25th, the Pittsfield Licensing Board made a decision to extend the operating hours of Pancho’s Mexican Grill, located at 156 North Street. Due to a series of alleged violations previously reported at Pancho’s late last year, the establishment had their all alcohol license revoked for seven days and their operating hours cut back. After the string of repeated violations, the establishment had its last call at 11:30 p.m. and was forced to close by Midnight. However, the new ruling allows Ponchos to have their last call at 12:30 a.m. and close by 1:00am, a one hour extension.
This decision followed Gabriel Columna, the manager of Poncho’s along with attorney Loretta Mack, appearing before the board to provide an update on the establishment’s conduct since the violations occurred
Speaking before the Board, Atty. Mach said “It has been now approximately three months, (with) last call at 11:30, closing at 12:00am, no incidences according to my client.” Attorney Mach highlighted Columna’s initiative in hiring an external security firm to manage nighttime crowds earning praise and approval from Thomas Campoli and the rest of the Board. Continuing before the Board, Atty. Mach shared “…there’s one other change that was initiated voluntarily by Mr Columna on December 30th, 2023, he hired a security company. So, rather than paying a few people to be security, he went and,I have a written contract with the security company…just to maintain the crowd, to push people out of the restaurant and disperse them from the street.”
In response, Thomas Campoli said “number one, it’s great that they have many problems there. That’s wonderful. Number two, I think it’s a great idea to have a security company in there. You’re obviously, you’ve been popular and you want to continue to be popular, but you want to have it be safe.” In the end, the Board unanimously voted to endorse the extension of operating hours for Pancho’s Mexican Grill.
