Pedal bar tours have popped up all over the US. Is Myrtle Beach their next tourist spot?
Popular cities across the United States have seen a new form of tourism pop up: the pedal pub.
According to the Pedal Pub company’s website, some of their over 50 U.S. locations include Austin, Dallas, Nashville, Charlotte, Detroit, New Orleans and now potentially Myrtle Beach.
During a Myrtle Beach City Council workshop and meeting earlier this month, owner of the SkyWheel said they had hopes to bring a pedal pub franchise to the area, calling it Myrtle Beach Party Bike.
The SkyWheel is one of Myrtle Beach’s most famous and well-know landmarks, with its image splattered on coffee mugs, postcards and t-shirts in tourist shops all over the area.
The Pedal Pub bikes are aluminum and steel frame party bikes, a presentation given to Myrtle Beach City Council said, with a capacity of up to 16 people.
City of Myrtle Beach law states that drinking alcohol and possessing open containers are allowed on the beach, streets or sidewalks. State liquor laws also prohibit alcohol on limos, party buses and private vehicles.
This new Pedal Pub venture would adhere to that law, and no alcohol would be served while patrons are biking from stop to stop, the proposed plans said.
Examples of proposed routes for the Pedal Pub tours include a downtown pub crawl and a sight seeing tour. Stops on the example pub crawl tour in the presentation included Grand Strand Brewery, Swig & Swine and RipTydz/Beach House.
The proposed pick up and drop off spot for the Pedal Pub tours is the public parking lot behind Grand Strand Brewery and the HTC Aspire Hub in the city’s Arts and Innovation District.
Tours would last approximately two hours long, with public tours expecting to cost $39 per person and private tours estimated to cost $439.
But, in order to make a pedal pub franchise legal in Myrtle Beach, city council will have to vote on whether to give the owners approval to operate the franchise, as outlined in a city ordinance shown during the presentation.
“No person shall operate any touring vehicle, pedicab or otherwise special vehicle for the purposes of transporting people for hire on any public street in the City of Myrtle Beach without possessing, in addition to any license required by law, a valid franchise authorizing the proposed operation,” the ordinance states.
Local business owners have written in support of the new business venture, and included it with the application to city officials. They are Bill Prescott from National Amusement Rides, Clayton Burros from Grand Strand Brewing, Pablo Chaves from Myrtle Beach Attractions Association, Chris Walker from Madmyrtle’s Ice Creamery, Nightmare Haunted House, Hi-FiCoffee Bar, ParkMB and Steve Ghidella from RipTydz Oceanfront Grille & Rooftop Bar, Beach House Bar &Grill and Bummz Beach Cafe.
