Business owners are vowing to bring back the lively vibe they built in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City\u2019s nightlife district \u2014 and city officials are promising to help, after three bars and a restaurant were destroyed in a fire Monday night.<\/p>\n
But in the meantime, Mayor Erin Mendenhall noted at a news conference Tuesday, \u201cthere are dozens and dozens of employees who are not going to be able to go to work tonight.\u201d <\/p>\n
The city will look into ways to help those service workers, she said, similar to the \u201cTip Your Servers\u201d program it helped organize during the COVID-19 pandemic. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be working as a city to support this community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The spirit of the 300 South block is \u201cfabulous drinks and food, laughter and memories,\u201d said Stuart Melling founder and chief writer of Gastronomic SLC. The people who work there, he said, make that happen. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m certain there are thousands, like me, that have been brought endless joy by this small strip of the city; not least the cast of wonderful servers, bartenders, and chefs \u2013 who made this central area \u2013 the city\u2019s number one destination,” Melling wrote on the Gastronomic site<\/a>.<\/p>\n (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bottles are seen at Whiskey Street following a fast moving fire on Monday night along Main Street in Salt Lake City that caused catastrophic damage several businesses, Tuesday, August 12, 2025.<\/p>\n Eva Lopez Chavez, a member of the Salt Lake City Council, responded to a question on Instagram<\/a> about services that might be provided to bar employees with \u201con it.\u201d<\/p>\n Fire Chief Karl Lieb confirmed three bars on the 300 South block of Main Street \u2014 London Belle<\/a>, Whiskey Street<\/a> and White Horse<\/a> \u2014 were destroyed, along with the Mexican restaurant Los Tapitios<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Facebook page for London Belle, where the fire officials said the blaze started fire started in the kitchen, added: \u201cOur hearts go out to all of our incredible neighbors that were impacted, and all of the families, owners, and staff.\u201d <\/p>\n The post for the bar, opened in 2018 <\/b>by owner Frank Paulraj, said it hopes to see Salt Lake City \u201cfor another round in the future\u201d and ended with \u201cGuess we really did have the hottest vibes in SLC.\u201d <\/p>\n It began on a more serious note: \u201cLast night we watched as our beautiful London Belle was destroyed. We want to thank everyone for showing us so much love and support … Your kindness has meant the world to us since the day we opened and especially now!\u201d<\/p>\n The Downtown Alliance, in a statement, said the property owners \u201chave shared with us their intent to rebuild.\u201d The buildings date back to the 1920s, the statement said, \u201cand have long been part of the fabric of Main Street.\u201d<\/p>\n (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City Fire Chief Kari Lieb gives a fire update alongside Salt Lake City mayor Erin Mendenhall, following a fire Monday night that destroyed several businesses along Main Street, Tuesday, August 12, 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to come back as soon as possible,\u201d Mendenhall said the news conference. The city\u2019s economic development office will work with affected businesses, to help get them open again as soon as possible, she said.<\/p>\n \u2018Our hearts are with our neighbors\u2019<\/p>\n The fire that destroyed the four businesses stopped before reaching Eva, the tapas place one door north of Los Tapatios, according to the restaurant\u2019s Instagram account<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have some smoke and water damage, but nothing major and we\u2019re feeling optimistic,\u201d Eva\u2019s owners wrote. They also thanked the Salt Lake City Fire Department for their \u201cincredible work,\u201d and said \u201cour hearts are with our neighbors who were more impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n Just north of Eva, the long-standing bar Cheers 2 You was \u201cblessed not to sustain much damage other than smoke damage,\u201d the owner posted on Reddit<\/a>. <\/p>\n The bar will reopen as soon as power comes back on and the city gives the OK, the owner said, adding that the owners of the neighboring bars \u201care personal friends and I can only imagine how devastating this is to them, their families and their staff.\u201d<\/p>\n The owners of Los Tapatios are Alejandro Maya and Christian Luna, brothers-in-law, and they also have not commented to The Tribune.<\/p>\n Whiskey Street and White Horse are part of the Bourbon Group, which has not yet responded to a request for comment.<\/p>\n The state agency that issues liquor licenses gives bar owners some leeway when their business must close in an emergency, such as a fire.<\/p>\n The Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services may approve a business\u2019 60-day closure, and extend the closure another 30 days if the licensee makes a written request, DABS spokesperson Michelle Schmitt said Tuesday. <\/p>\n After those 90 days are up, a license holder must go to the DABS commission during the board\u2019s monthly meeting to get permission for a longer extension.<\/p>\n Melling, in his GastronomicSLC post, suggested ways people can support the destroyed businesses. Bourbon Group also operates Franklin Ave.<\/a>, at 231 S. Edison St. And Los Tapatios<\/a> has locations in Rose Park and Taylorsville.<\/p>\n Peter Marshall \u2014 owner of Utah Book and Magazine, a used-book store that shares a wall with White Horse \u2014 said he only saw a small amount of water that affected his own business.<\/p>\n Marshall said he got to the scene around 10 p.m. Monday, and officials told him to stay away. He wasn\u2019t able to get a good look until around 3 a.m., he said, adding that by then, his store\u2019s doors were wide open. <\/p>\n The bookstore will reopen, Marshall said, as soon as he gets power back.<\/p>\n (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) One of the co-owners of Whiskey Street holds a flag that survived the fire and menu\u2019s retrieved by the book store owner next door, as she looks at the aftermath of a fire that destroyed four businesses on Monday night along Main Street, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. The American flag survived the fire that destroyed Whiskey Street, White Horse, London Belle and Los Tapatios. The flag had been hanging on a wall of Whiskey Street since it opened in 2013.<\/p>\n The bar to the south of the bookstore, Bodega & The Rest, reported in an Instagram story that it suffered some \u201csmoke-related impacts from a nearby incident,\u201d and would be closed Tuesday.<\/p>\n Mother Caf\u00e9 & Bar, a coffee shop set to open this month in the old Alibi space at 369 S. Main, wrote on Instagram<\/a> that it \u201cwas spared, but others were not. We are beyond heartbroken for thse small business owners and their employees.\u201d Mother\u2019s owners said that \u201cour priority is to help our neighbors rebuild this culture-heavy block.\u201d<\/p>\n