liquor licenses

The passage of new state legislation last month slated 225 new liquor licenses to hit Boston’s streets in the coming years.

A long-awaited bill that would create more than 200 new liquor licenses in Boston passed through the legislature Sept. 5, after a stall at the end of the legislative session left its future in question.

Getting a liquor license in Boston is a complicated affair. Nearly 100-year-old legislation that limits the number in the city, alongside longstanding racial wealth gaps, has meant that many of the city’s licenses to sell wine, beer and other forms of alcohol have ended up in Boston’s whiter neighborhoods.

In their first meeting of 2023, Boston City Council members offered up what amounts to at least a partial agenda for the new year.