GULF SHORES, Ala. (WKRG)– Mudbugs Bar has a troubling past. Shootings, fights and a lot of underage drinkers became such a big problem that the City of Gulf Shores threatened to shut the business down last month.

A strong warning led to some major changes. Bar owner and Manager Trey Harris says he’s stepping up security and it was time to make some changes.

“The parking lot was one of our biggest concerns to the city, so what we do now is we keep our security out here and they walk the parking lots,” said Harris. “They make sure no one is just sitting in their cars and they’ll walk girls to their cars instead of just letting them go. We are more an assisting bar now.”

Another issue the bar was struggling with was underage drinkers. The bar recently just bought a device that scans IDs. With spring breakers in town, they are putting it to good use.

“We just got this new scanner and it is very good,” said Harris. “It checks fake ID’s, underage, if someone passes theirs back, it’s one of the top scanners a bar can have so we are catching more fake ID’s, an average of, right now because of spring break, so you get way more 25 to 30, even more sometimes depending on the weekend.”

If you drive past Mudbugs you can see their sign lighting up with their new closing time. The city was concerned that Mudbugs was staying open until 3 a.m., which is past the city ordinance time of 2 a.m.. Harris says the main incidents happened between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m..

“Last call is at 1:00 a.m. and then we close the bar at 1:30, and make sure almost every one is clear,” said Harris. The property by 1:30, and that’s what our security does is if someone is waiting for an Uber or a Lyft, they will wait out here with them and by 1:30 we have a completely clear parking lot.” 

The City of Gulf Shores and Gulf Shores Police Department have not commented on MudBugs changes.