As far as Allen Moore can tell, the fight is finally over.

After sparring with city officials for the past six months, Moore plans to reopen the Skybox Bar and Grill within the next two weeks.

“This was the slowest victory of my life,” he said late last week about the process of getting to where he is now.

Moore faced what he believes to be the final hurdle for the Brown Street bar last week, when the Zoning Board overturned a ruling by Code Enforcement Officer Rick Gouzie, in favor of Moore.

The Zoning Board was only the latest of the panels Skybox has had to stand in front of, since former owners Tom and Ellen Dore were denied a liquor license by the City Council last March. Weary of their annual debate with the council over the license, the Dores decided not to appeal the decision to the state, despite the fact that they expected a favorable outcome.

However, Moore and his wife, Lynn, patrons of the Skybox and residents of Brown Street, decided they were willing to go to bat for their neighborhood bar, and took over management from the Dores. Still, they never expected to have to fight the battle they did.

The Moores brought a plan to the City Council in August that they thought would quell its concerns about the bar causing trouble for the neighborhood. They said they’d open later and close earlier. They’d have doormen on hand, keeping an eye on who was coming in – and who needed to leave.

Though councilors recognized the Moores’ efforts and intentions, they ultimately denied them a liquor license. In their minds, no one could run a non-problematic bar on Brown Street.

“The Pope himself could bring this forward, and I wouldn’t support it,” Council President Brendan Rielly said at the time.

The Moores turned to the state to have the council’s decision overturned. In December, the Department of Public Safety’s Liquor Licensing and Compliance Division granted the license under one condition – the bar had to be physically separated from the kitchen used by Ellen Dore for her catering company, because she already has a liquor license and they couldn’t grant two licenses to the same establishment.

Tom Dore, who still owns the building at 212 Brown St., put up a wall between the bar and the kitchen, giving access to the license, but also causing another problem for the Moores.

Gouzie determined that, without a kitchen, the bar would become a different classification from the one run by the Dores – and, thus, not permitted in the zone. That’s how the Moores wound up in front of the Zoning Board last Wednesday.

Some feel the city was out to get Skybox, doing whatever it could to prevent the bar from opening.

At the Zoning Board meeting, fellow Frenchtown resident and Westbrook business owner James Tranchemontagne called Gouzie’s decision “a last-ditch effort on the part of the city” to keep the Skybox from reopening.

“This was nothing but a silly game,” Moore said Thursday about the back and forth of the process.

He said it cost him $3,000 in attorney’s fees to fight Gouzie’s decision – not to mention the money he’s lost in revenue by the delay of the bar’s opening, which he hoped would happen on Labor Day.

Though Moore would like his money back, he’s not about to sue the city for it. Despite the fight officials put up to keep him from reopening the bar, Moore said he hopes to have a good relationship with them moving forward – and invites them to come have a beer.

On Thursday, the day after the Zoning Board’s decision, Moore was in the bar, cleaning up and preparing for the health inspector’s visit this week, as well as a delivery from Pepsi.

“Everybody’s excited,” said Moore, who had been receiving visits all day from former patrons stopping by.

Though Moore said he’s confident the bar will open, he still can’t be sure the city doesn’t have something else up its sleeve.

“I hope there are no more rabbits in that hat,” Moore said. But if there are, he’s prepared.

“I’ve got my attorney on speed dial now,” he said.

Allen Moore, owner of Skybox Bar and Grill, plans to reopen the bar within two weeks – over a year after it closed.