Church Street Entertainment, legally known as Downtown Entertainment LLC, owned all five clubs. Owners Dirk Farrow and Doug Taylor could not be reached for comment by the Business Journal.
Four of the venues were located in the same multi-floor building on Church Street; Ember was located on Central Boulevard. A source told OBJ Nov. 25 was Ember’s last day of business.
In 1992, the pair opened Chillers, a unique frozen drink bar. After holding out for the space on Central Boulevard for five years, Farrow and Taylor opened Ember in 2008. Nearly a decade later, Irish Shannon’s doors opened in 2017. Farrow and Taylor’s two-decade-old rooftop bar named Latitudes was rebranded as High Tide in 2022.
Downtown Entertainment LLC’s business license is still active, according to the Florida Department of State’s Division of Corporations website.
Nightclubs across downtown Orlando have faced new challenges in the last few months, including a permanent limit passed by the city council in mid-August on the number of nightclubs per block in downtown’s entertainment area. The rule took effect in late September.
Also this week, 23 downtown bars and nightclubs were found in violation of the After Midnight Sales Permit during “Operation Night Cap,” an Orlando Police Department operation that ran from July to November to investigate drug activity. The permit was passed in March 2023 and restricts bars’ ability to sell alcohol after midnight.
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Undercover officers also purchased drugs from dealers inside 17 clubs — five of the dealers were employees of the businesses.
Some downtown business owners disagreed with the bad spotlight put on them from the operation. Scott Kotroba, owner of Bullitt Bar on Pine Street, told Channel 9 business at his bar has been down 60 to 70 percent. The bad press is the last thing they needed, he said. Bullitt Bar was one of the businesses where an employee was caught selling drugs to an undercover officer.
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This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2024.