A small fire broke out Saturday, June 1 around 2:00 p.m. at Bar 316, a club that caters to a mostly gay male clientele, located at 316 Rensselaer Avenue in Charlotte’s Dilworth neighborhood. No injuries were reported and the building suffered minimal damage.
According to Charlotte Fire Department officials, it is believed the fire occurred from a smoldering cigarette likely flicked into an outdoor planter by a passerby who probably used a pathway between the Bar 316 building and a neighboring structure as a shortcut.
Eric Burke, a representative for Bar 316 spoke with Qnotes about the incident.
“I was there during the day with the owner Jeff [Edwards] and we smelled something burning,” Burke recalled. After the two men realized that the building itself was actually on fire, Edwards grabbed a fire extinguisher while Burke used a garden hose to spray down on the flames from above.
Response from the fire department was quick and the combined efforts of the club’s owner and staff member prevented any extensive damage.
The exterior walls of a stairway on the over 100-year-old Victorian structure (previously a private residence that was moved from another area in Charlotte) was sufficiently damaged to the point that several pieces of historic side planking had to be removed.
The bar did not close and opened as scheduled the same day. “We opened later that day at 9 p.m.,” Burke said.
During the June 10 conversation with Qnotes, Burke confirmed repairs were proceeding as planned and expected them to be completed that day.
While the minor fire has gone largely unnoticed by the community, other controversies related to the establishment have captured unwanted attention over the past few years.
The Bar at 316 appeared in the pages of Qnotes in June of last year when a confrontation broke out between a drag performer and Edwards. Protests followed, and a petition with 250 signatures surfaced, calling for Edwards to step away from management of the business he owned. Edwards later apologized and accepted responsibility for his actions.
According to a a February, 2021, report from the news department of local NBC television affiliate WCNC, 316 was cited three times in three weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic for violating health and safety executive orders.
The bar is also the last known location for Andrew Tench, 31, who was spotted there on the evening of March 24 (or the very early morning hours of March 25) and has not been seen since. An individual arrested in connection with that case says he met Tench at Bar 316 and believed he later died from a drug overdose. That investigation remains ongoing.
Fires in Charlotte area bars catering to the LGBTQ+ community have occurred in the city before. The former dance club Scorpio, which closed earlier this year after more than 50 years in business, was deliberately torched twice during the latter part of the 20th century. Those occurrences, unlike the fire at 316, were later determined to be intentional cases of arson.
According to Burke the busiest times for Bar 316 have consistently been from 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. on weekends and show no signs of stopping, so business remains status quo.
For more information on The Bar at 316, visit their website at https://bar316.com/
