August 15, 2017
Eric Neefe /Courtesy
This screenshot of a video taken by Eric Neefe shows a fight that broke out outside a Center City restaurant. Also, Center City Sips brawls did make the top tweets list in 2018.
It looks like Center City Sips won't return to the Comcast Center plaza until next summer, if at all.
The outdoor bar, an extension of the CHOPS Restaurant and Bar on the ground floor of the skyscraper at 1700 JFK Blvd., has not held a Sips special since a July 26 brawl between patrons was caught on video and went viral.
Billy Penn first reported Tuesday that the promotion won't be returning this summer. Since the fight broke out, the bar has been closed entirely on Wednesdays, Billy Penn reported. Chops had offered the promotion each Wednesday night of the summer and regularly drew crowds of more than 1,000 people.
Welcome to the city of brotherly love #sips pic.twitter.com/CwehiJphJu
— Mahoney (@_ludah) July 26, 2017
One week I don't attend Sips and this happens. My dude in the white the worst fighter I've ever seen. pic.twitter.com/c4G7ejdjfZ
— Kyle (@kgeich) July 27, 2017
Nothing like seeing a fight between human boatshoes at SIPS
— jason (@JasonBaranowski) July 27, 2017
Proprietor Alex Plotkin told Billy Penn that the restaurant does hope to relaunch the promotion next year.
The directive reportedly came from Liberty Property Trust, the landlord for the restaurant and the tower.
LPT's senior vice president, John Gattuso, reportedly said concern over the exceedingly larger – and younger – crowds had been growing among organizers.
"We had expressed some concerns for several weeks in advance,” Gattuso told Billy Penn. “Given the size of the crowd and the age of the crowd, it was time for us to reassert the focus on after-hours dining.”
Videos from the late July incident show several people taking part in fistfights in front of a large crowd outside the Comcast Center. Bouncers eventually broke up the fight.
