We\u2019ve all been there: An email with an important deadline gets buried in the inbox and suddenly you\u2019re doing damage control.<\/p>\n
For a popular soccer bar in Seattle\u2019s Fremont neighborhood, that missed email was a notification to renew its liquor license, which eventually expired. And the timing, ahead of the World Cup coming to the city, could not have been worse.<\/p>\n
The George and Dragon Pub has been around<\/a> for more than 30 years and has frequently been included on \u201cbest bars to watch soccer\u201d lists in Seattle. In October, the Sounders FC named it among a few official sites<\/a> to watch the team in the MLS Cup Playoffs. It is also one of just a few places in the city that has English delicacies<\/a>, such as cottage pie, baked beans and bangers and mash.<\/p>\n On May 1, the pub said on Facebook<\/a> that it would not be serving alcohol due to \u201ctechnical difficulties,\u201d much to the dismay of its customers. One person replied, \u201c(Checking calendar\u2026) It\u2019s not April 1st today, is it?\u201d Since then, bar owner Daniel Pagard said business has slowed, forcing him to reduce operating hours and rent the space to private parties to bring in some revenue.<\/p>\n A few soccer fans gathered around \u201cthe telly\u201d on a recent Tuesday afternoon to watch a match between Chelsea and Spurs in the Premier League. Signs posted around the pub stated that the bar was not serving alcohol at the moment, instead serving mocktails and other nonalcoholic drinks, along with food. Pagard is upfront about the situation, referring thirsty customers to nearby bars that can serve alcohol.<\/p>\n He said he missed an email from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board notifying him that it was time to renew the pub\u2019s liquor license and an opportunity to appeal its expiration. Pagard panicked when he realized what had happened, but said he is working to get the permit back in good standing.<\/p>\n “I wish I could blame the world around me or whatever, but at the end of the day, this is a thing that falls in my lap, so I’m getting it taken care of,” Pagard said.<\/p>\n There was a \u201creal fear\u201d that the pub might miss out on hosting World Cup watch parties<\/a>. Now, Pagard is waiting for approval from the Washington State Department of Revenue and said he is beginning to see the \u201clight at the end of the tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am confident that we will have it done by the World Cup, but I would like to have it as soon as we can,\u201d Pagard said.<\/p>\n Ideally, Pagard would like to start serving alcohol in time for Europe\u2019s Champions League final, which is scheduled for May 30 between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. But he is ready to give soccer fans the \u201cbest experience possible\u201d for World Cup matches<\/a> next month.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, extra speakers set up, so it feels like you’re at the stadium. Extra staff working, so there’s no long lines or anything like that,\u201d Pagard said. \u201cAnybody that’s ever been to the George knows that those days are pretty awesome, pretty special here.\u201d<\/p>\n Seattle will host six World Cup matches at Lumen Field, starting on June 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve all been there: An email with an important deadline gets buried in the inbox and suddenly you\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-692742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}