There’s only one stand-alone bar in Provo — and, after a Tuesday vote by the Provo City Council, that’s not changing anytime soon.

The council voted 4-3 against a proposed high-end bar, The RX Bar and Grill, that was being developed for downtown Provo.

The owners of Lehi’s Scorez Sports Bar made an offer to buy the vacant B&H Pharmacy at 286 W. Center St. and turn the building into an upscale sports bar. The concept plan offered a 21+ bar setting with a rooftop area, karaoke, live music, food and drinks.

In its presentation to the council, the company said the goal was to create a space where locals and visitors can grab a drink after work or a conference.

Council members said they would prefer to put a restaurant, not a bar, in the former pharmacy building.

Council member Craig Christensen said he was not inclined to add another bar in Provo, saying the city has every right to enforce the “zoning that we feel is appropriate.”

“This is what the citizens of Provo would like us to do in terms of keeping the number of licenses they have to what we currently have,” Christensen said at the meeting.

Provo has only four places where customers can order alcohol without also having to buy food. Only one — A. Beuford Gifford’s Libations Emporium, known to locals as ABG’s — is a stand-alone bar. There’s a bar in the Marriott Hotel on Center Street, and two members-only clubs in the city have bar licenses: The Elks Lodge and the Riverside Country Club.

The state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services allocates liquor licenses based on a population quota, with one bar license for every 9,356 Utah residents. According to the U.S. census estimate in July 2025, Provo has a population of 114,527 people — enough for 12 bar licenses.

Cory Brian, the owner of Scorez and an applicant for the bar, said at Tuesday’s meeting that state alcohol regulations make a restaurant more unmanageable and a less appealing professional drinking space. Under Utah law, restaurants with a liquor license must ensure that 70% of their total gross revenue comes from food.

Provo has not approved a new bar license in more than a decade. And economic estimates show the city is losing money because of it.

City staffers recently presented data to the council that showed that Provo residents spent between $4 million and $6 million a year at bars in other cities. Some council members questioned the accuracy of that data.

The leakage doesn’t stop there. Quinn Peterson — executive director of Downtown Provo Inc., which supports the new bar — said the lack of a professional drinking establishment in the city causes many conventions, businesses and visitors to pass by Provo, even with the Utah Valley Convention Center on Center Street.

Peterson, who identifies himself as a Latter-day Saint who doesn’t drink, said he recognizes the city’s heavily saturated religious culture, but that the bar was an opportunity to open the door of Provo to others.

“We’re not in any way counterculture, and we’re not trying to devalue anyone’s belief systems here,” Peterson told The Salt Lake Tribune before the meeting. “We’re just recognizing that we live in a world where not everyone thinks the same, and we just want people to feel welcome here in our community, whether they share our beliefs or not.”

After the council’s vote, the owners of Scorez withdrew their application and offer to purchase the venue.