Former strip club surrenders liquor license
A bar that Colorado Springs police say has a history of violent crimes, including a deadly shooting in June, surrendered its liquor license Friday.
The Golden Cue, 2790 S. Hancock Expressway, faced a suspension and revocation hearing Friday on three counts, including that it “failed to conduct the licensed premises in a decent, orderly and respectable manner and permitted acts of disorderly conduct” before the June 2 shooting.
But bar owner Steven Knost reached an agreement with the city in which he “voluntarily” surrendered his liquor license and the charges were dismissed.
Under the agreement, Knost is prohibited from holding a liquor license in Colorado, according to the City Attorney’s Office.
Knost could not be reached Monday. Attorney Vince Linden, who represented Knost before the city’s liquor board, declined to comment.
In June, the liquor board approved a request by the City Attorney’s Office for a “summary suspension” of the bar’s liquor license. As a result, the bar was ordered to immediately to stop serving alcohol pending a suspension and revocation hearing that had been scheduled for June 29. But the hearing was continued to Friday because of the Waldo Canyon Fire.
Police had painted the Golden Cue as a trouble spot and said it had been identified as a “high risk” location.
The bar, which used to be a strip club and still holds a so-called Sexually Oriented Business license, had generated 192 police calls for service from 2008 through June 6, police said.
“The top call types responded to at the Golden Cue are disturbances, calls involving weapons and assaults,” a police report states.
During the early morning hours of June 2, a fight broke out inside the club. The fight spilled outside and led to the shooting death of Kenderick James, 22, an active duty soldier from Fort Carson. Another man was shot during the fight.





