In re Chinese Gospel Church

AVELLINO, J.,

These zoning appeals implicate the same question: Is a municipality entitled to regulate the entertainment that liquor licensees pro*474vide for their patrons? The entitlement question has surfaced, so to speak, because the Department of Licenses and Inspections recently decided that section 14-1605 of the Philadelphia Zoning Code applies to restaurants that are licensed by the state to serve alcoholic beverages.

Enacted in 1979, section 1605 basically bans cabarets from desirable zones, and permits them in other zones on a prior approval basis. A “cabaret” is defined, in pertinent…