Last call for troubled Neponset bar

A lawyer for Upstairs, Downstairs, shut since seven people were stabbed in February, said today the bar's owner is in the process of selling its liquor license to the Boston Tea Party Museum.

Meanwhile, a Boston police detective says that while police now have a suspect for the stabbings, which sent a bar bouncer to the hospital near death, the investigation is being hampered because none of the five patrons who were stabbed want to cooperate.

The bar, also known as Ups and Downs, has been open for more than five decades in Neponset Circle, originally as the Pony Room.

Attorney Michael Ford told the Boston Licensing Board this morning that owner Arthur Sutliffe is throwing in the towel and that he has "a signed offer" from the museum, now under reconstruction in Fort Point Channel.

C-11 Detective Michael Harrington told the board that as people were exiting, there was a surge of people back into the bar and all of a sudden a fight broke out. One bouncer testified she heard words exchanged - although she could not make them out - then a drink with ice came flying and a fight was on.

Bar employees on duty that night said the evening had been uneventful. They said the trouble was among people they did not recognize as regulars.

The board votes Thursday whether to levy additional penalties. Ford said the bar would like to re-open the first floor of the two-floor bar until the liquor license is transferred.

Update: The Licensing Board found the bar was not at fault.