Popular Charleston cocktail bar and restaurant opening new location in Columbia

The Charleston-based, 1920s-themed cocktail bar and restaurant, Prohibition, is expanding to downtown Columbia. 

The new restaurant will be located at 1556 Main Street on the corner of Main and Taylor Streets. It's planned to open by the end of October, according to one of the restaurant's owners, James Walsh.

Specialty cocktails and a variety of taps pouring beer and wines will be available at the bar. The new location will serve lunch and dinner daily, featuring the same Southern-styled dishes found in the Charleston location.

Fan favorites like wings, steaks and shrimp and grits will be available alongside new menu items exclusive to Columbia, made possible by a kitchen three times the size of the one in Charleston and an authentic pizza oven ordered from Italy, Walsh said. 

The space is being redesigned to match the aesthetic of the original location, Walsh said, but there will also be antiques and historical decorations to highlight Columbia's past. 

The Charleston spot is decorated in dark-grain woods, brassy fixtures and moody lighting that's reminiscent of a 1920s speakeasy.

A full-service bar and stage for live music are planned in Columbia. And an elevated space for larger parties and private events will also be available. 

The new location features a basement that will eventually be converted to a speakeasy, Walsh said. 

Walsh said the owners want to form relationships with other local businesses and feature them in events.

The expansion comes 10 years after the original restaurant opened on King Street in Charleston, according to the restaurant. 

"We find that some of our customers live in Columbia and travel to Charleston," Walsh said. "It felt like a natural way to expand."