BOULDER — When nightly sales peaked at $100, Billy Reed did the only thing he could do — he closed the doors to Boulder’s only gay bar, the Yard of Ale.

The business . . . shuttered Saturday after 19 years of business.

Colorado’s new smoking ban played a major role, Reed said.

‘It started on July 1,’ said Reed, the bar’s owner the
past five years. ‘I had two customers all day (July 1), and I thought I was OK. It was hot out; people were
just going to barbecues. Then Monday I had nobody, and Tuesday I go in to do the books, and we barely broke $100. Three weeks later it’s the same thing.’

On Wednesday, Reed filed with the Colorado Secretary of State to dissolve his business.

As for Boulder losing its only gay bar, Reiser said it ‘sucks.’

[Kevin Johnson, assistant manager of the Yard,] said
he watched the bar take a nose-dive after July 1, and
even heard from his liquor distributors how other small
bars were suffering.

Sales just weren’t what they needed to be in order for
us to stay open,’ Johnson said. ‘I was crushed.’”

Source: Boulder Daily Camera. Link Expired.