Anyone Complaining About Outdoor Dining in Portsmouth, NH Needs to Relax…

Facebook fights are always so entertaining...they are really silly, and often get mean...but my gosh are they entertaining. Just yesterday, I saw a post in the Portsmouth, NH Facebook group that was getting heated.

I scrolled past it relatively quickly, until I noticed it had nearly 300 comments in a few hours, before the admin turned off the commenting feature. The topic at hand: outdoor dining in Portsmouth. New Hampshire.

if you are unaware, Portsmouth, New Hampshire started allowing certain restaurants to partake in outdoor dining back during Covid-19. It was the one silver lining that came from a dark time.  A new "summer in Portsmouth" concept was born.

Barricades and privacy walls encroached onto the side walks and parking spaces on the streets, and year after year, the town's residents got accustomed to having various outdoor dining options from Spring to Fall.

If you could not tell, I absolutely love it. I'll sit outside in the sun next to motorcycles passing up and down Market Square any day over sitting inside in the summer.

The post's main complaint was that the outdoor dining took away parking in Portsmouth, NH. The second tier of complaints were about the tax payers loss of money: i.e. tax payers pay to clean up the restaurants floors aka the streets, the city losing out on money from parking, etc.

Ironically, the person who posted about it does not even live in Portsmouth. At any rate … this is a crazy take. And a take that threatens one of the best things to happen Portsmouth - annual outdoor dining options.

Without knowing how much money the town loses out on parking during the months certain restaurants occupy parking spots for outdoor dining, like many residents in Portsmouth, I am happy to lose out on that money if it means outdoor dining stays.

Seeing people sitting outside from Spring - Fall is what makes Portsmouth so amazing. It is not just the historic buildings...it is the people. Sure, many tourists eat at those outdoor dining restaurants, but so do a lot of locals. And that money feeds our downtown businesses.

Bottom line, outdoor dining is a blessing in Portsmouth. It is one of the few things I would be willing to fight tooth and nail for in this town to stay for a long time. It is sad that a few people complaining about losing out on a few parking spots could threaten a wonderful thing.