Pop's Place turns to brewery license workaround in last-ditch effort to survive in Drumore Township

Prohibition never completely ended in Drumore. The township and a handful of others in southern Lancaster County have banned retail liquor sales and beer licenses used at bars since shortly after the national ban was lifted in 1933.

But for the first time in more than 90 years, it could soon be possible to legally sit down and drink a beer at a restaurant in Drumore Township - a prospect that has raised the hackles of township supervisors.

Pop's Place Family Restaurant, 1426 Lancaster Pike, has applied for a brewery license, a type of license that hasn't been banned in the township. A brewery license would allow Pop's Place to operate a small brewery and sell beer, wine and liquor to restaurant customers, as long as none of the alcohol is produced outside the state.

For Drumore Township to become fully dry, residents would need to prohibit nearly two dozen different license categories.The current restriction covers only two types of licenses. The township's ban does not affect breweries or the numerous other license classes created since Prohibition ended with the establishment of a handful of licenses. Most of these modern categories were created after Drumore Township's last voter referendum in 1979.

With its application for a brewery license, Pop's Place's is leveraging a 10-year old law change that gave breweries added leeway to operate as veritable bars.

"From the outside looking in it could have all the elements of a retail license but because it is classified as a manufacturing license, they can avoid the dry municipality ban," said Theodore Zeller, a liquor license attorney in Allentown who is not involved with the Pop's Place application.

Drumore Township supervisors have opposed the application from Pop's Place in a formal letter sent to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board in which they say the application "circumvents the will of the voters."

Initially the PLCB responded March 18 with a letter saying that the township couldn't stop the issuance of a brewery license. When LNP - LancasterOnline contacted the PLCB to say that such a stance appeared to not take into account all the recent law changes, the agency rescinded its original letter and issued a new one.

The amended PLCB letter, dated March 30, explained that brewery licenses could be barred in Drumore Township through a voter referendum like the one from 1934 that kept some aspects of Prohibition going.

"The Board may issue manufacturing licenses unless and until the voters vote otherwise," the PLCB's letter reads.

'Loopholes and pitfalls'

The conflict - and the PLCB's initial erroneous response to Drumore Township's inquiry - highlights the convoluted nature of Pennsylvania's liquor code.

Historically, municipalities that wanted to prohibit certain types of liquor licenses didn't have the option of prohibiting manufacturing licenses, such as brewery or distillery licenses. The legal option to ban brewery licenses was added in 2019 following the law changes in 2016 that gave breweries more options for serving the alcohol they made as well as other wine, liquor or beer produced in Pennsylvania.

This loosening of the rules provided some restaurant owners with a less expensive alternative to purchasing a standard restaurant liquor license, which in Lancaster County can cost more than $300,000. A brewery license requires only a one-time $700 application fee, $700 surcharge and a $1,425 annual renewal.

However, for establishments in municipalities like Drumore that legally restrict alcohol sales, the changes didn't just offer cost savings; they opened an entirely new, legal way of selling alcohol at a restaurant without a designated 'R' restaurant liquor license.

Zeller said he has crafted such arrangements for breweries in other municipalities with alcohol bans. Because of the "loophole," he said dry municipalities present a lot of opportunity because there wouldn't be competing retail licenses in the vicinity.

"The liquor code is made up of loopholes and pitfalls," he said.

A referendum on brewery licenses in Drumore Township could be put on the ballot with a petition containing 105 signatures, an amount that represents 25% of the highest number of voters in the last general election. To get on the fall ballot, the petition would have to be submitted to the county election board by Aug. 31.

If a referendum to ban brewery licenses was successful in Drumore Township, any breweries operating in the township - including any at Pop's Place - couldn't have their licenses renewed and would have to cease operating. Brewery licenses have to be renewed every two years.

No municipality in the state has banned brewery licenses since the option became available in 2019. No effort is underway in Drumore Township for a referendum.

A struggle for survival

For Pop's Place owner Robbie Stuart, the brewery license is a last attempt to save a struggling business.

"I've been losing $3,000 to $4,000 every week since we opened," Stuart said. "The place ain't making no money."

Robbie Stuart and his wife, Katie Schatz-Stuart, bought the 5,700-square-foot restaurant building in April for $375,000. The couple previously renovated the former Rawlinsville Tavern and reopened it as The Rawlinsville Brickhouse in July 2023.

Pop's Place is located three miles south of the Buck, the shopping and commercial business clustered around routes 272 and 372. It sits atop a hill on the Drumore Township side of Route 272, which is the municipal boundary with East Drumore Township. The restaurant building was the longtime home of Valley View Restaurant, which closed in March 2012, just days before it was featured on an episode of the television show "Restaurant: Impossible" that documented an attempt to save it.

Since then, it has been the home of RD's American Grill, Drumore Diner and Melissa's Country Grill.

"I feel like every business that has gone in there in the past five years has just struggled," said Robbie Stuart. "It's just too far south, honestly."

Robbie Stuart says he isn't trying to open a "dive bar." Pop's Place will continue to serve breakfast and remain a family-oriented restaurant. He says he wouldn't enlarge the restaurant building in order to add the brewery and won't be installing any large brewery tanks. He said the plan is to produce some beer on site but contract out to another brewery to make the beer that will only be served at the restaurant.

And, Robbie Stuart said he will only install enough brewery equipment to meet the legal requirements for a brewery license which don't define a minimum - or a maximum - amount of beer that a brewery must produce.

"I just want people to come in and have a couple beers, a burger or a cheesesteak and hopefully it brings revenue," he said. "It's been a restaurant for 50 years. It's still going to be a restaurant."

Divided opinions

The application for a brewery license has been discussed at two recent township supervisors' meetings, but was news to a handful of local residents interviewed recently at La Dolce Vita Pizzeria in the Buck.

"I didn't realize it was even dry," said Mike Yoder, a resident of nearby Quarryville. "But if they're legally allowed to apply for it, it doesn't bother me."

Al Jamison of Kirkwood said he wouldn't have a problem with alcohol sales at Pop's Place since it could help the business.

Others remain skeptical. Jen Schneider of Holtwood argued that the area doesn't need more alcohol sales, while Don and Karen Carter, of Providence Township, said they could understand why township officials would oppose alcohol sales if the township is supposed to be dry.

The Carters, who also live in a dry township, were puzzled by some of the rules, particularly by the existence of Buck Beverage, a beer distributor across 272 from La Dolce Vita - in Drumore Township.

Buck Beverage utilizes a distributor (malt) license. Such licenses are allowed in Drumore where the ban on "retail liquor" and "retail beer" only extends to 'R' restaurant license and 'E' eating place malt beverage licenses which can't serve wine and liquor.

The Rev. John Hartman of Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church, located less than a mile from Pop's Place, said he didn't personally have an issue with the restaurant selling alcohol, but suspects that many of the area's longtime residents would still oppose it.

"I can't imagine the will of the people would have changed greatly from what previous referendums have been in the past," he said in a phone interview.

While some local opinion attributes the alcohol restrictions in the Southern End to its Amish population, historical data suggests a different story.

Steve Nolt, an Amish expert and director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietistic Studies at Elizabethtown College Elizabethtown College's Young Center, said there were virtually no Amish families living in Drumore or its neighboring townships when the initial prohibition votes were cast in the 1930s.

Even today, Nolt notes that the number of registered Amish voters remains too small to sway modern referendums. In Drumore, there were only 38 registered Amish voters as of 2024.

History of alcohol referendums in Drumore and East Drumore townships

1933: Following the repeal of Prohibition, Drumore stays dry - by a vote of 285 to 34 - as does East Drumore, by a vote of 213 to 63.

1979: By a vote of 367 to 78, Drumore voters reject a referendum that would have allowed the sale of beer and liquor.

1997: East Drumore voters defeat a measure seeking to allow alcohol in restaurants.

2005: East Drumore residents vote to ban liquor stores - by a vote of 397 to 240 - and beer distributors by a vote of 410 to 221. The referendum was in response to a plan for a state liquor store at Musser's Market, in what is now a Giant grocery store.

2015: Tanglewood Golf Club organized a referendum to end the ban on retail alcohol sales in East Drumore Township. Voters rejected the referendum by a vote of 207 to 137, keeping the township dry.

Source: LNP - LancasterOnline archives

Supervisors' stance

Despite the indifference of some residents, the township's leadership has defended the township's limits on alcohol.

After directing their solicitor in February to send a letter to the PLCB outlining their opposition to the Pop's Place brewery license application, Drumore Township supervisors discussed the issue during their March meeting after a resident brought it up. The issue did not come up during the supervisors April meeting.

While supervisors said in March they can't control the granting of the brewery license for Pop's Place, they indicated they could have a say in whether it actually opens since the business would have to meet local zoning criteria.

The township's current zoning ordinance does not specify criteria for a brewery - in fact, it doesn't even mention the word. When asked about potential standards, Mark Deimler, the township's zoning officer, said he couldn't comment since the issue might come before the board for a formal hearing.

Reached by phone, Drumore Township supervisor Chairman Gerald Sensenig also declined to comment.

The Stuarts' attorney, Aaron Zeamer, did not respond to questions regarding whether the plan requires a zoning change. Robbie Stuart's timeline for a June opening of a brewery does not currently include seeking such approvals.

LNP Correspondent Charles Barto contributed to this report.

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This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 9:23 AM.