About 30 municipalities in New Jersey are dry towns, meaning you cannot buy alcohol at a store, bar, or restaurant within their borders. The best-known are Ocean City, Cape May Point, and Wildwood Crest in Cape May County; Haddonfield in Camden County; the Borough of Pemberton in Burlington County; Far Hills in Somerset County; and several small municipalities in Salem County, including Oldmans Township. Most dry towns sit in the southern half of the state, with a few scattered farther north.
Ocean City has banned retail alcohol sales since 1909, more than a decade before national Prohibition, tied to its founding as a Methodist seaside retreat. The count shifts over time as communities hold referendums, and assumptions can mislead: Upper Township in Cape May County, for instance, is often lumped in with the dry list but actually permits a limited number of retail licenses under its municipal code.
What “Dry” Actually Restricts
A dry designation covers commercial retail sales only. You can legally possess, transport, and drink alcohol on private property in any dry town in New Jersey. Buying a case of beer in the next town over and driving it home is fine. What you won’t find inside town limits is a place to buy it.
The authority for all of this comes from a single statute, N.J.S.A. 33:1-40, which lets every municipal governing body limit by ordinance the number of retail liquor licenses issued within its borders.1Justia. New Jersey Code 33-1-40 – Municipal Regulation of Number of Retail Licenses, Hours of Sale A town that sets the number at zero is dry. Limitations adopted before July 1937 stay in force until the municipality formally repeals or amends them, which is why some of these bans have run for nearly a century without another vote. Enforcement falls to local police, and it applies to unauthorized retail sale, not to what you do at home.
BYOB Dining in Dry Towns
The workaround that keeps restaurant scenes alive in Ocean City, Haddonfield, and similar places is BYOB. Under N.J.S.A. 2C:33-27, a restaurant without a liquor license can allow patrons to bring their own wine or malt beverages onto the premises.2Justia. New Jersey Code 2C-33-27 – Consumption of Alcohol in Restaurants Hard liquor is not covered. A municipality or an individual restaurant can opt out and forbid on-premises consumption, but many don’t, because BYOB is a genuine draw.
Two limits worth knowing before you sit down. First, under the current text of N.J.S.A. 2C:33-27, an unlicensed restaurant cannot charge you an admission fee, cover, corkage fee, or any service charge tied to your bringing alcohol.2Justia. New Jersey Code 2C-33-27 – Consumption of Alcohol in Restaurants A violation is a disorderly persons offense, and a court can bar the restaurant from allowing BYOB at all. Senate Bill 3389, introduced in the 2026 session, would reverse this and permit corkage fees, but its final status has not been confirmed.
Second, the statute historically banned restaurants from advertising their BYOB policy. A federal court issued a preliminary injunction against that ban in GJJM Enterprises v. City of Atlantic City, finding it a content-based restriction on speech unlikely to survive constitutional scrutiny.3GovInfo. GJJM Enterprises v. City of Atlantic City New Jersey restaurants now advertise BYOB openly, and the state has not tried to enforce the ban since the ruling.
Breweries and Wineries Are a Different Matter
Dry towns can and do host breweries, wineries, and distilleries. Manufacturing licenses in New Jersey are issued by the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, not by the municipality, so a town that has set its retail license count to zero has no power to block a state-issued production permit. Haddonfield is home to a winery. Shiloh and Upper Pittsgrove in Salem County have production facilities operating within their borders.
Manufacturers can typically offer tastings and sell directly to consumers on-site under the terms of their state license. A resident of a dry town can’t order a glass of wine at the restaurant down the street, but they can drive to the local winery for a tasting and leave with a bottle. Which level of government issued the license is the whole difference.
Private Clubs, Veterans’ Halls, and Golf Facilities
Some private membership organizations hold alcohol permits in otherwise dry municipalities. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act specifically provides for special permits at golf and country clubs, even in towns that have not adopted an enabling ordinance for regular retail licenses.4New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Special Permit for a Golf Facility Veterans’ organizations can obtain club licenses to serve members and their guests. These permits carry strict conditions tied to membership rules and operating hours, and administrative fines or revocation follow when those terms are broken.
How a Dry Town Becomes Wet
Changing a municipality’s status takes a public referendum, and the process is deliberately slow. Under N.J.S.A. 33:1-46, residents who want the question on the ballot must gather signatures from at least 15 percent of the qualified voters who cast ballots in the most recent general election for the New Jersey General Assembly.5Justia. New Jersey Code 33-1-46 – Municipal Referendum on Retail Sales of Alcoholic Beverages Those signatures go to the municipal governing body, which then directs the county clerk to place the question on the next general election ballot.
If the referendum fails, the question cannot return to voters for at least five years.5Justia. New Jersey Code 33-1-46 – Municipal Referendum on Retail Sales of Alcoholic Beverages A separate referendum process under N.J.S.A. 33:1-44 covers narrower questions, such as allowing only beer and wine rather than all beverages.6Justia. New Jersey Code 33-1-44 – Municipal Referendum on Retail Sales of Alcoholic Beverages Except Brewed Malt and Fermented Wine The same signature threshold and five-year waiting period apply. A limited beer-and-wine measure is sometimes easier to pass than a full open-sales vote.
Even when a town votes to go wet, new licenses are capped by state law based on population, so residents should not expect a sudden proliferation of bars and liquor stores. Licenses in New Jersey are scarce, and they trade on the private market for hundreds of thousands of dollars.