A Whitehorse man who has run his Second Avenue bar for nearly 30 years says he was given fewer than six hours to shut down his business.

Joe English is the owner of Joe's Bar, also known as the Redneck Bar or Joe's Free Pour.

During an interview Monday, he said he was shocked when he received a notice from the Yukon Liquor Board last Thursday that he only had a few hours left as a bar owner.

'At 6:30 p.m. Thursday night, they told me I had to close my doors at midnight.

'I've been in business for 28 years,' he said.

According to a March 22 fax from the Yukon Liquor Corp., English was not to serve any more liquor after midnight.

'The liquor licences for the Pioneer Inn will expire at 12:00 midnight March 22, 2007; all liquor service must end at 12:00 midnight,' the fax states.

'Please arrange to return the liquor that is in resaleable condition to the central warehouse for refund on March 23, 2007.'

English said he was aware the building that houses his bar and another bar, the Blue Moon, had been sold to Whitehorse business owner Tippy Mah.

However, he was under the impression he would have until the end of the summer to keep pouring drinks before closing down.

'We would have liked a few more months for a wind down; now it's a big scramble.'

English said he was told the liquor licence he's been under for years, held by the former building owner, Hong Tai Lam, wasn't renewed under Mah because it didn't meet liquor licence laws.

Rhonda McPhail, the manager of the liquor corporation's licensing branch, said Mah was provided with a one-month interim licence for the Pioneer Inn complex which includes Joe's and the Blue Moon as his property doesn't meet liquor laws.

'Of course the premises was sold. The new owner was provided with an interim licence for one month to undergo work and repairs.

'There were conditions that had to be met.

'One of the conditions of the licence was to have 30 bedrooms available,' she said.

The washrooms shared by the bars were also a problem, she added.

'This was communicated. Of course, the licensee is the person we contact. Licenses also appeared on the building.'

Mah said this morning he doesn't plan to repair the building to bring his properties up to liquor licence codes because he plans on tearing the buildings down.

'I told all the tenants, they all know. Joe English knows,' Mah said in an interview from Vancouver.

'I don't need that licence; I just bought the place for the land,' he said.

Mah said he wasn't able to have the licence transferred over to the bar owners.

'The liquor board didn't want to transfer the licence.'

McPhail said that Mah could have transferred the licence to English but that the requirements still would have had to be met.

'It would still have to be in compliance. He could have made arrangements to transfer the licence to Mr. English but all the conditions would have had to be met, including the hotel.'

English said while he knew the hotel was a problem, he would have been willing to fix the bathrooms.

'At least give us a little bit of time. Just because the hotel wasn't up to snuff doesn't mean the bar wasn't up to snuff,' he said.

'There were men in the women's washroom and women in the men's washroom smoking crack, a lot of people came to my bar with their bladders empty because they didn't want to go in there.

'We were trying to take care of the washrooms.'

English said now that his business has been closed, he's decided to return the unopened bottles of liquor, sell off the bar's paraphernalia and seek out other employment options.

'I got a couple of offers, but whatever I do, I want to do it part-time. I'm going to be 70 soon.'

English said he's disappointed he had to close his bar and his customers will have to find another place to drink.

'(Non-Yukoners) are going to buy the whole country up and make it impersonal.

'Years ago, people who worked at bars took pride; now it's just young kids waiting to get a better job.'