The Village Council voted 5-0 on October 8 to let Local's Pub serve from 11 a.m. to midnight seven days a week, removing one of the last restrictions on the Gallery Square North spot as its new owners finish converting the former Salty Zebra next door into The Pub Tequesta.
Local's Pub can now open for lunch.
The Tequesta Village Council voted unanimously on October 8 to expand the pub's permitted hours to 11 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, a change the new owners of the Gallery Square North restaurant spaces said they need to serve a daytime crowd.
Until now, Local's Pub at 381 Tequesta Drive operated under hours set by a 2023 variance: 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight on Fridays, and noon openings on weekends. The new approval, known as VAR 01-26, replaces those limits with a single rule: no opening earlier than 11 a.m., no closing later than midnight, any day of the week.
Why a pub needs a variance to open at 11
The hours were never really about the clock. They were a condition of the alcohol variance the property has carried for years.
Village code requires 1,000 feet between a business serving alcohol for on-site consumption and any church, school or youth center, measured door to door. The Gallery Square North spaces sit about 140 feet from the nearest church, Good Shepherd, according to the Village staff report, with the Tequesta Youth Center about 418 feet away.
The property first won relief from that rule in 2019, when Vintage Wine and Charcuterie was approved for beer and wine service. A 2023 variance then allowed Local's Pub, which opened that year, to serve liquor as well, but with the limited hours attached. Because a variance runs with the property rather than the operator, that relief stayed in place when the businesses changed hands this year. All the new owners needed from the Council was permission to change the hours, and that is all VAR 01-26 does.
Community Development Director Jay Hubsch told the Council the request aligns the pub's hours with neighboring businesses and supports an expansion into daytime service. Applicant Ken Kennerly said the existing limits, written for afternoons and evenings, no longer fit how the group plans to run the space.
The hearing was quasi-judicial, so Council members disclosed their contacts with the applicants before voting. The motion, by Vice Mayor Rick Sartory and seconded by Council Member Kyle Stone, carried 5-0.
Two pubs, one new ownership group
Tequesta Restaurant Group, founded by four local residents, Gary Haseley, Dan Reedy, Bob Bailey and Ken Kennerly, acquired Local's Pub and The Salty Zebra, at 377 Tequesta Drive, from the previous operators this summer and announced the deal in late August.
The two spaces are getting very different treatment:
- Local's Pub keeps its name and stays as it is. The group has said the neighborhood pub will continue operating unchanged, with its existing atmosphere and staff. What changes is the schedule: lunch service and earlier game-day openings are now permitted every day.
- The Salty Zebra becomes The Pub Tequesta. The former bistro space is being renovated into an upscale sports pub and dining spot, with seating for about 94 guests, 28 televisions and a state-of-the-art audio-visual system, live entertainment and elevated food and cocktails.
Kennerly told the Council the group is local, lives in the community, and built its team across marketing, construction, legal and restaurant operations. The projected opening for The Pub Tequesta is late November or early December.
The Salty Zebra space needed no hours vote of its own. Its earlier variance, first granted when the space operated as Casa Cana, carried no hour limits, so the renovation can proceed on the existing approvals.
What it means for Gallery Square North
Gallery Square North, on Tequesta Drive just south of the Jupiter line, has quietly become one of the village's dining clusters, and the two adjoining spaces at 377 and 381 Tequesta Drive are its anchors. Longer hours at Local's Pub, plus a second, larger sports-focused room opening next door, give the plaza something it has not really had: a lunch-through-late-night sports destination in the middle of Tequesta, run by owners who live here.
No opening date has been formally announced for The Pub Tequesta beyond the late November to early December target given at the hearing. Jupiter Daily will update this story when the group sets one.
