PROVIDENCE — Talk of the Town bar, a former staple of the Downcity scene, might be able to set up shop on Federal Hill after all.

In November, the city Board of Licenses stunned bar co-owner George Langlais when it refused to allow him to move his liquor license to 529 Atwells Ave.

The relocation was necessary because Talk of the Town had been evicted from its longtime spot at 147 Washington St. to make way for the planned construction of a hotel. And Langlais and his wife, Nancy, already had begun to renovate the space at 529 Atwells.

But now the director of the state Department of Business Regulation, in an appeal by the bar, has overruled the license board. Talk of the Town can move to 529 Atwells, in a storefront of a multifamily house across the street from the Burchfield law offices, director A. Michael Marques has decreed.

Hearing officer Catherine R. Warren, in a written decision adopted by Marques, said the license board abused its discretion and failed to provide evidence to justify its denial of the move.

In an unrelated licensing issue, the license board has granted a peddler’s license to a North Providence man with a criminal record.

The license board rejected Talk of the Town, at least in part, at the request of City Councilwoman Josephine DiRuzzo, D-Ward 15. DiRuzzo complained to the board that the presence of the bar at 529 Atwells “would not be conducive” to her plans to have the area redeveloped for better uses.

License board chairman Andrew J. Annaldo backed DiRuzzo.

“I don’t like the location. It has no parking,” Annaldo told George Langlais at the November hearing on the relocation application. “You probably run a nice establishment,” but that is not enough.

The board voted unanimously to renew the Class B liquor license for Talk of the Town but to reject the owners’ request to transfer the use of the license to 529 Atwells.

The DBR ruling came up at a board meeting last week, and two board members seemed less certain of their decision on the bar than they had been when they made it.

“I felt bad for the guy,” said Gordon D. Fox, board vice chairman.

Member Allene Maynard acknowledged that there is off-street nighttime parking apparently available for Talk of the Town on the other side of Atwells, in the parking lot of the Burchfield building.

The board has the right to appeal the DBR ruling to Superior Court, and Annaldo said Tuesday that a decision on whether to appeal has not been made yet.

In resisting Talk of the Town’s petition to the DBR, the lawyer for the board, Assistant City Solicitor Steven L. Catalano, relied solely on argument and cross-examination of Talk of the Town’s witness. He did not introduce a transcript of the board’s hearing or testimony from DiRuzzo or any other city official.

“They didn’t have much in the way of a [persuasive] record at the board … There wasn’t a whole lot of evidence presented,” Catalano explained yesterday. He recently took over as a lawyer for the board, and the board’s case might have suffered in the transition, he added.

Given the licensee’s clean history, the abundance of liquor licenses in use in proximity to the proposed new location and other issues, Catalano said the city had a tough row to hoe at the DBR.

“Even if the city had put forward a better case, I think this would have been a pretty difficult one for the city to prevail on,” Catalano said.

Nancy Langlais testified to hearing officer Warren that there is a sports bar on Harris Avenue within 200 feet of the proposed new location and perhaps six or seven bars not much farther away including the strip club Fantasies. The storefront at 529 Atwells was selected because it is affordable and would be a useful location to do business, she testified.

Catalano argued to Warren that the board was concerned about adding to the number of liquor licenses in the vicinity and the planned reliance on on-street parking.

Warren noted in her ruling that there was no evidence presented from a police officer, a board member or a council member why Talk of the Town would have a negative impact on the neighborhood, no official record of DiRuzzo’s objection, no evidence that Nancy Langlais would be an irresponsible licensee and no evidence that on-street parking would be insufficient.

The board’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious,” she concluded.

Regarding the peddler’s license, the board voted unanimously to grant a license to Daniel Crenca to peddle food and beverages from a pushcart to be named Your Favorite Food Cart. Crenca, brother of Umberto Crenca, director of the AS220 arts organization and a member of the School Board, acknowledged that he has been arrested nine times. The offenses mostly were driving with a suspended license, disorderly conduct and other misbehavior, according to police records.

In one case, Daniel Crenca said, he asked police officers to arrest him because he was out of control.

Crenca told the board that he has suffered from emotional problems, that he had a nervous breakdown and that he had been “a little bit of a knucklehead” when it came to paying traffic tickets on time. But he and his family have had extensive food-service experience — they used to own the Castle Spa — and he has stabilized himself, he said. Crenca showed board members a photograph of his wife and children.

After having Crenca sign a document acknowledging his arrests — the acknowledgment is a routine requirement of licensees — the board granted the license.

gsmith@projo.com