The Lansdowne Pub in Boston, where a man was killed by a broken beer glass early Saturday morning, will switch to plastic cups and non-glass bottles until a city licensing hearing next month, the Boston Globe reports.
Patricia Malone, Boston’s director of consumer affairs and licensing, said the bar will not use glass at least until its licensing hearing on Sept. 15, which the city called in response to last weekend’s death. Hector Guardiola, 25, of South Boston, allegedly threw a glass that shattered, fatally injuring Michael DiMaria, a 23-year-old New York man.
At the hearing, the city could ban glass permanently at the pub. Malone said Boston has banned glassware at about 12 other bars or restaurants, on a case-by-case basis.
The Globe quoted the Lansdowne Pub as saying that management feels “a tremendous sense of sadness” about DiMaria’s death. “We have and will continue to cooperate with the city and the Boston Police Department and have committed to cease the use of glassware effective Wednesday evening, pending the outcome of this investigation,” the statement said.
There are complications involved in switching to all plastic. For one, revenues could suffer if bars had to resort to pouring every glass bottle into a plastic cup. Further, coolers are designed for bottles, so cans would not work, and aluminum bottles are more expensive than glass.
