Beta Nightclub in Denver has seen its fair share of troubles over the past couple years. After closing its doors for the first time in December 2018, it was teased as Beta 2.0 almost a year later. However, after a failed inspection that ruined its soft opening and another attempt at another rebrand, COVID-19 hit and ceased all plans for the club to fully reopen altogether.
Still, that wouldn’t stop the “little club that could” and Beta planned to reopen again during COVID, social distancing and face masks be damned. Now, the club has been ordered shut down indefinitely by the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment for repeatedly violating the city’s Safer-At-Home order.
“We did everything we could, you know, to comply. There are some customers not willing to keep their masks on or comply with social distancing and now we are suffering. We got shut down,” said Valentes Corleons, the owner of Beta Nightclub, which is located near 19th and Blake streets.
However, video obtained by the FOX31 Problem Solvers “shows the club packed with people on the dance floor and at the bar, with minimal mask wearing and no social distancing,” writes KDVR.
Corleons feels that the city has been targeting his venue “because of the type of music I play and the crowd that I attract,” but other clubs like Temple, Church, Club Vinyl, and more haven’t had that issue. Beta has had myriad issues since Corleons and majority investor in the remodel, Hussam Kayali, acquired the property.
DDPHE already issued the club a citation on June 16 for violating the city’s public health order for operating as a bar after receiving 11 complaints from the public. In the following days, the city department apparently “worked closely” with the club to navigate the requirements of the public health order. Corleons says he turned away 700 people this past Saturday to keep capacity at 100, but even then he couldn’t keep the crowd inside to follow rules to a T.
“Every time somebody tried to dance, tried to get up, we asked them, ‘Please, this is the rule. Please comply.’ You know, we did our best,” he said.
KDVR writes, “Corleons said he hired 22 security guards to enforce the rules but said he was put in a difficult spot because ‘Security cannot put his hand on them (customers).'”
Corleons is able to appeal the decision from the City.
via KDVR | Photo via Jay Bird Photography
