Local tavern owner Kevin McGugan was surprised to discover that an important piece of information he thought was already common knowledge among his employees had, in reality, not been acknowledged.

McGugan, owner of The Uptowner Bar and Grill, which is located on the Square, said Saturday he thought his business didn’t admit minors.

“We try to do an excellent job of keeping minors out because that’s the law,” McGugan said. “We’re going to double the number of doormen we have, and we already have cameras at the door.”

But the findings of last month’s Charleston Police Department compliance checks of 10 bars proved otherwise.

The Uptowner was one of six establishments that failed the checks that involved sending an underaged informant into bars.

Charleston Mayor Dan Cougill said previously he didn’t use the checks out of respect to the establishment. He said that respect has since been lost.

Uptowner, Ike’s, Stix, The Station, Marty’s and the Icy Mug all failed a Dec. 14 compliance check.

All establishments except for Marty’s accepted the charges and were fined $1,000 and will serve a two-day liquor license suspension Feb. 6-7.

Marty’s owner Dave Kinnaird denied the charges at an earlier liquor commission hearing but dropped his denial at Thursday’s hearing.

Because of a state law giving taverns 20 days to appeal penalties assessed, Marty’s will serve a two-day suspension Feb. 13-14 and also will be fined $1,000.

Kinnaird declined comment Sunday about potentially gaining more business on the days the other Charleston bars are closed.

“I think the mayor did what he thought was right,” McGugan said. “I think we have to pay the consequences of what happened. It was fair.”

Representatives at Stix declined comment Saturday.

Jerry’s Pizza & Pub, Mad Hatter’s Tea, Roc’s Blackfront and Stu’s passed the compliance checks.