Wake County judge orders Raleigh nightclub StarBar to close temporarily

A Wake County judge has temporarily shut down StarBar in Raleigh, saying the nightclub’s repeated violence and disorder had crossed the line into a public nuisance that could not wait for another arrest or another call for service.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins signed the temporary restraining order against the club’s owners and operators after Raleigh police asked the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Division in April 2026 to help pursue the case. The order closes the bar at 1731 Trawick Road, blocks the property from being sold while the case remains active, and requires nuisance-related criminal activity to stop.

A hearing is scheduled within 10 days, when the court will decide whether the restrictions stay in place. For now, the shutdown removes one of the east Raleigh corridor’s most persistent trouble spots from nighttime service while officers and regulators press their case in civil court.

State officials said the matter grew out of a prolonged pattern of criminal activity at StarBar, including controlled-substance violations, fights, assaults and shots fired at or around the property. Law enforcement said it has recorded 15 shooting-related calls or incidents there since July 2020, a number that stands out even in a fast-growing city where late-night disorder can spread quickly into nearby blocks and businesses.

The club’s troubles with state alcohol regulators are not new. The North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission suspended StarBar’s ABC permits on Oct. 30, 2020, after five shootings and stabbings on or near the property. Those permits, which the commission said had been held since 2010, were reinstated in 2021 before being suspended again on April 17, 2025.

State officials said the 2025 suspension followed multiple acts of violence, including a shooting on Sunday, April 13, 2025, when multiple vehicles were struck by gunfire and nobody was injured. The North Carolina Department of Public Safety said ALE had conducted numerous investigations into illegal activity and violence at the site.

The temporary closure puts the focus squarely on what nuisance abatement means in practice: when a business is accused of repeatedly fueling crime, the state can ask a judge to cut off operations before the pattern gets worse. For residents, patrons and nearby businesses along Trawick Road, the immediate question is whether the shutdown will bring a break from the late-night chaos that has followed StarBar for years.