Pink Pony strip club's parent company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

BROOKHAVEN, Ga. — A strip club and pop-culture icon well known throughout Atlanta and beyond has hit a financial snag.

Records obtained by 11Alive show the company that owns the Pink Pony, Trop, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Sept. 19. This comes a little more than a month after the City of Brookhaven enforced new alcohol ordinance against the club, a move that "blindsided it."

READ | Brookhaven enforcing new alcohol ordinance on Pink Pony

The revised alcohol laws went into effect this year, requiring establishments that served alcohol, and utilized a DJ, dance floor or stage to become subject to an annual license fee of $100,000. Clubs also were no longer allowed to serve alcohol on Sundays. Other changes included rolling back the hours of operation to 2 am.

Three other nightclubs - all minority owned - pushed back against the City over the change, arguing they were "racist." The clubs, Medusa, Josephine and XS, filed suit against the city, and a judge allowed the case to move forward in July.

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While the new laws had already been enforced on other nightclubs, the city began enforcing the rules on the Pink Pony last month.

It's because of those new hours, and apparently loss of business that CFO of Trop, Inc., Dennis Williams, said triggered the move to file for Bankruptcy.

"Hardship and negative financial impact," Williams told 11Alive over the phone. "It has created a hardship on employees, the entertainers trying to provide for their families, and it has hurt the company to the point where it can't meet its obligations with its creditors."

Williams added that the club has spent the last 28 years in compliance, but believed the Pink Pony got caught up in disagreement between the city and the other clubs.

"The pink pony has always been in good standing with the city and have been in compliance with law and the criteria agreed with the city," Williams said. "Unfortunately, the Pink Pony got cast in the shadows of other bad operators."

Williams stressed that the club was far from closing, and that it's "business as usual."

"We pray we can get our hours back and the city will grant a solution," Williams said.