Unsurprisingly, Downtown Bar Owners Not Happy That Lurie Is Adding 20 New Liquor Licenses to Union Square

The article was originally published on https://sfist.com/2025/10/15/unsurprisingly-downtown-bar-owners-not-happy-that-lurie-is-adding-20-new-liquor-licenses-to-union-square/The 20 new liquor licenses Mayor Lurie is dropping on Union Square are getting predictable blowback from downtown bar owners, who are still struggling from the pandemic and not particularly keen on having 20 new competitors.   As Governor Gavin Newsom has been on his annual bill-signing spree over the last month or so, one bill he signed that really caught our eye was the bill that granted 20 new liquor licenses to Union Square. The new liquor licenses were actually Mayor Daniel Lurie and state Senator Scott Wiener’s idea, and Wiener pushed the bill through the state legislature in Sacramento. The licenses are availabl