Percy’s Bus Stop, the iconic Krondprinsens Gade restaurant with the immediately recognizable red double-decker bus, may be renovated and expanded, owner Percy Taylor, wife Jane and granddaughter Noreen Taylor told a Senate committee Thursday.
The Taylors spoke in support of a Coastal Zone Management permit and 20 year lease with Planning and Natural Resources for the parcel, which is on filled, formerly submerged land.
Taylor said his business has been at 47-E Kronprindsens Gade for roughly 40 years. "While it has struggled in recent years, I remain hopeful for the future. A long-term lease would allow me to put the appropriate investments into my business to allow it to thrive once again."
"In 1974 I opened Percy’s Bus Stop. I bought the unforgettable double decker red bus, which has become the symbol of my business and placed it across from Creque’s Record Shop close to Fort Christian," Percy Taylor said in written testimony. He asked his granddaughter to read the testimony for him, saying he had a speech impediment making it difficult to read aloud himself.
In his testimony, he said the restaurant held dances weekly in the 1980s to 1990s.
"Bus Stop was the home for many great local bands: Eddy and the Movements, Jam Band and Mandingo Brass," he said. It played host to calypso and steel pan competitions. "The calypsonians that most frequented Bus Stop during Carnival were King Obstinate, Short Shirt, Lord Kitchener, Baron and Mighty Sparrow," Percy Taylor said in his testimony.
It is also one of only a few restaurants serving local food, he said.
Taylor said the land Percy’s Bus Stop is located on is operating on a month-to-month rental basis with the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, and so he and friends built the place piecemeal.
"Unfortunately it began deteriorating first after Hurricane Hugo, then Hurricane Marilyn. Due to the lack of a long-term lease, I could not attract investors or get a loan from any lending source," he said. For years he tried unsuccessfully to get a long-term lease.
He said he has met with architects and discussed ways to incorporate the double-decker bus as part of a new structure.
"I plan to keep it as a restaurant but the renovations would attract more demand for renting out the space for events such as birthday parties, showers and other gatherings," he said. "I want to pass this business and my legacy down to my children and grandchildren," he said.
The permit for use of submerged land also includes rental of $700 a month, gradually increasing over the course of the 20 year lease.
Senators were very supportive of the permit, the lease and the Taylor’s business, sharing recollections of dining and seeing music there.
Voting in favor of the permit and lease were Sens. Clifford Graham, Myron Jackson, Sammuel Sanes and Janette Millin Young. There was no opposition. Absent were Sens. Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O’Reilly and Diane Capehart.
