OUT With the Old: Five Guys, Jack Wills, Sweet Frog—and the Town’s Liquor License Moratorium

*Updated Jan. 15.*

Five Guys hamburger restaurant at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Dumbarton Street will close Sunday, Jan. 24, after years at its Georgetown location. For decades, the 1335 Wisconsin Ave. NW address held the French bistro Au Pied du Cochon, known for a Soviet spy escape and a Mike Tyson incident, before Five Guys arrived about 10 years ago. Founded in Arlington, Va., in 1986, Five Guys has often received top burger prizes and now has more than 1,000 locations in North America. It opened its first United Kingdom spot three years ago. It also has franchises in Ireland and Saudi Arabia.

Jack Wills has vacated its store near the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, but get ready for Lilly Pulitzer, the “Queen of Prep” clothier, to arrive at 1079 1/2 Wisconsin Ave. NW, to be exact. The Jack Wills store at 1079 Wisconsin Ave. NW closed Christmastime. “Life’s a party, dress like it,” according to Lilly Pulitzer. As for departed Jack Wills, it remains “fabulously British” in other locations, such as Philadelphia, Nova Scotia and, of course, the U.K.

Sweet Frog frozen yogurt shop at 1737 Wisconsin Ave. NW, which opened in October 2013, has closed. It was a fun spot for kids around the neighborhood and for hanging out after sports at Jelleff Boys & Girls Club center.

Noodles & Co, the fast casual restaurant with dishes from mac ‘n cheese to pad Thai at 1815 Wisconsin Ave. NW, has closed as did the nearby Rooster’s barber shop a couple of months ago. Other businesses in this fairly new, small retail complex— next to the Social Safeway—include Drybar, a blow dry bar, and Cardinal Bank. These two favorites are doing quite well, thank you.

Also, gone soon will be Georgetown’s liquor license moratorium. In effect since 1989 and due to expire April 3, it has gotten a no vote from Georgetown groups, which have come to view it as a big restraint to the restaurant business and a hinderance to business in general.

Last month, the Georgetown Business Association, which represents businesses throughout all of Georgetown, added its own unequivocal take on the debate: let the Georgetown liquor license moratorium expire, with no strings attached.

The Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission unanimously voted at its Jan. 4 meeting to ask that the Georgetown liquor license moratorium be allowed expire by spring, allowing for a so-called “Georgetown Settlement Agreement Template.”

It resolved: “. . . ANC 2E requests that the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board recognize the community’s action to adopt a Settlement Agreement Template aimed at addressing issues of hours of operation, noise disturbance, public space cleanliness and maintenance, and general concerns to ensure peace, order and quiet in the community . . .” and “. . . that the [board] adopt a protocol for reviewing CR and DR license applications in Georgetown consistent with that available to other jurisdictions in the city . . .”

On board with the template idea is the Georgetown Business Improvement District, which wrote up its concept first a few months ago, and the Citizens Association of Georgetown. The BID will have its final vote on the revised template Jan. 21.