NORFOLK, Va. - Culture Lounge & Restaurant has closed after the City of Norfolk delivered a Notice of Revocation.
Culture, located on Granby Street, has operated under a Restaurant Zoning Certificate since the beginning of January. According to the city, such certificates require restaurants within the Downtown Norfolk area to close before midnight and prohibit onsite entertainment.
The city says they recently launched an investigation after reports of continued violations to its zoning certificate. On August 22, the city's Zoning Administrator delivered a notice of intent to revoke the certificate.
This is due to "failure to satisfy Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority requirements for restaurant alcohol sales; failure to remit required food and beverage taxes; and providing entertainment within a designated restaurant facility," according to a statement from the city.
The notice of intent gave the lounge ten days before calling for its revocation on September 1. Culture now has 30 days to appeal this revocation, but they must remain closed pending a decision by the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Culture previously operated as a nightclub, but in December 2021, Norfolk City Council voted to allow Culture to only continue operating as a restaurant, not a nightclub.
That decision was made after some neighboring businesses and residents said Culture has attracted violence since it opened in 2018.
News 3's Leondra Head spoke to one of the owners of Culture and asked about the restaurant's alcoholic beverage compliance.
"The city has nothing to do with that. That is an ABC alcohol requirement. If the ABC alcohol requirement had an issue with us, they would shut us down. They did not have an issue with us," Michael Copeland said.
ABC released the following statement:
Prior to its recent closure by the City of Norfolk, Culture Lounge and Restaurant was operating with an active on-premise mixed beverage license and was not the subject of an ABC investigation.
"It’s a racist agenda going on in the city of Norfolk. It’s been here for years. We’re tired of being harassed. We’ve turned the other cheek for way too long We’ve been here 4 years and have been harassed for," Copeland said.
Copeland claims the establishment is being held to a different standard.
"Chichos only been there six to eight months. They had five people shot and three people dead. We’ve been here four years and no one was shot and we’re closed," Copeland said.
However, in 2021, Norfolk’s assistant attorney says there were more than 160 calls to police involving Culture.
Prior to 2022, Culture operated as a nightclub.
"We had a nightclub that was open until 2 in the morning. Our biggest time we made money was between 11:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. They took those hours away. At this point, we’ve just been getting by," Copeland said.
"Are you all going to try to fight this to stay open?" News 3's Leondra Head asked Copeland. "Tooth and nails," he responded.
"We have 50 employees. We told them all Friday that they just lost their jobs," Copeland said.
According to an Instagram post from Culture Lounge, they say they can "proudly say nobody ever got shot inside or outside Culture Lounge." The posts also writes that the lounge is tired of the "constant harassment" from the city.
"As part of Norfolk’s new Business Compliance Unit, City Zoning staff will continue to review restaurants within the city for compliance with applicable regulations," the city's Director of Communications states.
