JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Downtown Jacksonville\u2019s newest ordinance allowing bars to serve alcohol until 3 a.m. has been in effect for about a month, and early signs point to a boost in business.<\/p>\n
The ordinance, which extended last call by one hour, applies to businesses in the downtown area and puts Jacksonville in line with other major Florida cities.<\/p>\n
Decca Live is one of the newest entertainment destinations in downtown Jacksonville and one of many businesses now serving alcohol until 3 a.m.<\/p>\n
Evan Rajta, an operating partner for Decca Live, Keane\u2019s Taverna and Sip Rooftop, said the change has been a welcome one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great,\u201d Rajta said. \u201cWe are very thankful that the city is moving in the right direction and they are making all of the right choices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rajta had advocated for the extended hours, believing more time means more business for downtown establishments.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville isn\u2019t breaking new ground in Florida. Cities like Miami and Tampa already serve alcohol until 3 a.m. \u2014 and both are widely regarded as thriving urban centers.<\/p>\n
When the ordinance was first introduced, public reaction was mixed. Some residents supported the change while others raised concerns about public safety, including a potential rise in arrests and DUI incidents.<\/p>\n
News4JAX reached out to the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office for data, and so far, officials have not provided any information suggesting the later cut-off has led to an increase in arrests.<\/p>\n
Rajta said the extended hours have actually made things safer downtown by giving patrons more time to wind down before heading home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe show may end at 2 a.m. but have a little background music on, (people) order their Ubers, order their food and head where they need to,\u201d Rajta said. \u201cIt\u2019s created a safer environment instead of having the mob mentality where you have everybody in the middle of the street all at the same time; it has allowed us to phase that out a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The extra hour also benefits staff, who are earning more with the additional time for sales. More revenue also translates to more tax dollars flowing back into Duval County.<\/p>\n
The growth downtown shows no signs of slowing. Rajta\u2019s group has at least two more concepts in the works \u2014 a European bakery and a speakeasy \u2014 both planned for the downtown area.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Downtown Jacksonville\u2019s newest ordinance allowing bars to serve alcohol until 3 a.m. has been in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[558,9000,116,118,117,2159,3091],"class_list":{"0":"post-213998","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-downtown-jacksonville","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","12":"tag-jacksonville-news","13":"tag-money","14":"tag-nightlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}