Bristol Township, PA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Chapter 49 of the Bristol Township Code, adopted by Township Council as Ord. No. 2001-06, makes it unlawful to operate an adult business anywhere in the Township unless the operator first obtains a permit from the Code Enforcement Officer and keeps it in force (§ 49-4). The definitions reach adult arcades, bookstores, cabarets, hotels and motels, motion-picture theaters, video stores, modeling studios and adult entertainment enterprises. An application carries a nonrefundable fee set by resolution of Township Council, a floor plan, a site plan showing parking, lighting and landscaping, and any lease or recorded restrictions affecting the premises (§ 49-5). The Code Enforcement Officer has 30 days from a complete application to investigate and mark it granted or denied, and a permit is deemed issued if the required inspections are not finished in time (§ 49-6). Every permit expires one year after issuance, and the renewal request is due at least 30 days before expiration.

A denied applicant has 10 days to appeal in writing to Council, which sets a hearing between 10 and 30 days after the appeal arrives and decides under the Pennsylvania Local Agency Law (§ 49-8). Reapplication waits one year unless the grounds for denial no longer exist (§ 49-9).

Spacing sits in the zoning chapter. Use D22, Adult Commercial Uses, in § 205-16 requires the building to sit no less than 1,000 feet from any residential use or district, public or private school, church, recreation facility or other religious, institutional or educational use, and no use can sit within 2,000 feet of a similar use. Only the P-1 Planned Industrial District lists the use among permitted-by-right uses (§ 205-63). Section 49-14 adds operating rules: every adult business except a cabaret closes from 12:00 midnight to 9:00 a.m., exterior windows stay covered with opaque covering, parking areas and entries need one footcandle of lighting, and no one under 18 is admitted. Live entertainment must take place on a stage at least 18 inches above the floor and 10 feet from patrons, with at least one security guard on duty.