Sports Bar Shutters After Crackdown In Baltimore County

TOWSON, MD — The Towson Greene Turtle shuttered recently after a crackdown on Thirsty Thursday promotions left the sports bar struggling.

The Greene Turtle's website says the Towson location, situated at 319 York Road, is permanently closed.

WMAR said Greene Turtle signs were removed from the property on Dec. 1. An eviction notice on the building alleged that the restaurant owed more than $47,000 in unpaid rent, the TV station reported.

The sports bar on Sept. 29 announced its pending closure during a hearing with the Baltimore County Board of Liquor License Commissioners, multiple reports said.

The Baltimore Banner said the board suspended the Towson bar's liquor license for Thursdays through October.

WBAL-TV reported the board also recently fined The Greene Turtle $1,000 for serving an underage police cadet.

The Greene Turtle did not immediately respond to Patch's request for a comment. We will update this story if the business replies.

WBAL said the bar ended its Thirsty Thursday promotions by early September. The owners estimated that the lost Thirsty Thursday revenue would cost the business about $600,000 annually, The Banner reported.

Greene Turtle CEO Geo Concepcion called the Towson location, which opened in 2022 at a cost of $4 million, "the most expensive and shortest-lived project in the Greene Turtle's 50-year history," according to The Banner.

Concerns started in August when widely shared TikToks seemed to capture bar-goers overflowing into the streets.

Police ramped up their patrols and crowd control throughout September.

Greene Turtle reported that sales dropped to a quarter of their usual number by the end of the month, The Banner said.

"The reality is we can't continue, so we are looking to close this location and work with the landlord to find a termination agreement that will be suitable for all of us," Concepcion said, according to WBAL.

Baltimore County Council Chair Mike Ertel (D-Towson) told WJZ that "while we don't want to see any business close, this might not be the end of the world."

"People that are coming aren't necessarily going and patronizing somewhere else," Ertel told WJZ. "They're just all hanging out by the bar that they wanted to go to."

Aaron Brave, who owns the nearby bar The Reservoir, chided The Greene Turtle.

"They don't have their finger on the pulse and the trigger of Towson," Brave said, according to WBAL. "Their deceptive business practices have negatively impacted us to a humongous degree."

Some customers will miss The Greene Turtle.

"It sucks cause we already had Nachos Mamas closed too," Daylen Robertson told WMAR.

The Greene Turtle also closed its White Marsh Mall location by late 2023.

The Maryland-based chain, which opened its first restaurant in Ocean City in 1976, still has dozens of bars along the East Coast. In Baltimore County, the Owings Mills and Hunt Valley locations remain open.

Related:

• 2 Towson Bars Accused Of Serving Minor
• Towson Sports Bar Closing After Thirsty Thursdays Go Awry: Reports
• Thirsty Thursday Crowd Control Underway During Towson Bar Crawls
• Thirsty Thursdays 'Ruin Our Community,' Draw 'Some Bad Apples' To Towson: Reports