Memphis, TN Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 7-4-15 of the Memphis Code prohibits any person from consuming or possessing for the purpose of consumption any alcoholic beverage, as defined in Section 7-4-1, while on streets, sidewalks, alleyways, parking areas, bus and trolley stops and shelters, or other open areas the city operates and controls, but only within the Central Business Improvement District defined at Sections 12-32-2 and 12-44-2. A beverage in an open container is presumed to be possessed for consumption: the ordinance makes possession of an open container in a prohibited area 'prima facie evidence' that the holder intends to drink it, so officers do not have to catch someone mid-sip to write a citation.

The prohibition does not reach every downtown drinker. Four carve-outs in subsection C exempt patrons of premises licensed for on-premises consumption while they remain on that property, patrons at venues where attendance is controlled by the owner or lessee, patrons at events covered by a special event permit issued under Section 7-8-21, and anyone inside the Beale Street Historic District established under Section 7-8-23 or any other district the city or state later designates within the Improvement District, and subsection D allows those exempt areas to include outdoor space, which is why Beale Street's outdoor foot-traffic drinking is legal while the same conduct one block outside the district is not. The ordinance traces to Ordinance No. 4828 (Nov. § 55-10-416, which governs drivers and passengers rather than pedestrians.