Little Dipper Bar becomes first downtown business to expand patio seating onto roadway, part of city program

HOUSTON - Certain blocks of Main Street from Commerce to Rusk, will now be closed off to drivers, so businesses can expand their outside patio seating into the roadway. It’s part of the city of Houston's pilot program called More Space: Main Street, which aims at helping restaurants and bars downtown recover from the pandemic.

The program is a partnership between the City of Houston, Downtown District, and METRO.

Main Street downtown, typically congested with cars and traffic, is about to get a lot more pedestrian friendly, with the City’s More Space Program now in motion. 

Scott Repass is the owner of Little Dipper Bar and a board member of the Downtown Management District.

Little Dipper is the first Main Street bar to debut its expanded patio seating, right on the roadway. 

With blue and gold metal fencing bolted into the ground to separate the area from the Metro Rail, customers can now enjoy eating and drinking outdoors; something that never seemed possible before in the small space. 

"If you look at a place like ours where it’s only 1,000 square feet inside. This is massive to us. And I think the pandemic has changed the way all of us think about this. Some people are not going to be comfortable inside for a long time," said Repass. 

Repass said his bar was shut down completely for six months during the pandemic. Many of his neighbors, never made it back. 

But the program now gives hope that Main Street will return to its pre-pandemic vibrance. 

"It was impossible down here between tourism being gone, nobody being in offices downtown, and none of the sports teams playing. Yeah, our business was gone. We would be gone if it weren’t for this project. We would not be coming back if it weren’t for this," said Repass. 

The More Space Program will last a year until the end of March 2022. 

City officials will make another evaluation then, on whether to keep it permanent.