Back Bay could get a place for people who like indoor putts

The Zoning Board of Appeals today approved plans to replace the old Crate & Barrel on Boylston Street with a four-story restaurant with mini-golf.

Swingers, 761-793 Boylston St., would consist of a restaurant in the basement and on the ground floor, with mini-golf and "retro carnival games" on the upper two floors. Swingers had earlier tried to move into a space on St. James Street.

Jeremy Simmonds, of the London-based Swingers, said the entire facility would have 350 seats, with proposed hours of noon to midnight most nights and noon to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Roughly 95% of the business would come through reservations, primarily from businesses looking for alternative meeting spaces and young professionals.

The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay was in "non opposition" to the proposal, which is as close as it gets to support. Swingers attorney Rebecca Lee said the association was particularly concerned that the mini-golf stay mini-golf. "They wouldn't want this to switch over to a fight club or something like that," she said.

Through an aide, City Councilor Sharon Durkan (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Mission Hill, Fenway) also voiced support, saying the Back Bay "is in need of more fun uses."

Nobody spoke in opposition.

The proposal will also need the approval of the Boston Licensing Board.