Columbia SC strip club shut down

A strip club just outside of Columbia has shuttered its doors.

Thee Whiskey Tavern on Zimalcrest Drive was shut down, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. The club was referred to by the agency in a social media post Tuesday as a “hotbed for criminal activity” in that area, which included operating illegally as a sexually oriented business.

“Over the course of three years our deputies responded to Thee Whiskey Tavern some 90 times,” Sheriff Leon Lott said in a news release. “These calls included aggravated assaults, robberies, weapon law violations, liquor law violations, criminal sexual conduct and property crimes.”

WIS reported in September that the Richland County Council had voted on Sept. 12 to yank the club’s business licenses, citing a zoning issue. But the club was posting on social media as still being in operation as recent as Nov. 1.


A woman was reportedly stabbed at one of the strip club’s bathrooms in October 2016, The State reported at the time. In August, the club was the site of a robbery, according to a sheriff’s department news release.

“Count it a community win,” the agency said Tuesday via Twitter. “RCSD and many community and county partners have successfully fought to have Thee Whiskey Tavern closed.”

I was the first to review this club back in 2010. I was denied entry because I was wearing sweat pants. The last paragraph of my review:

My best guess is that this club is a front for prostitution. Membership, seedy motel & locked entrance. Probably won't be around very long. It did rack up 20 reviews in it's 7 years of business.