BEVERLY — Urged on by a rare show of force from police and city officials, the Licensing Board last night imposed a six-day suspension on the city's largest and most notorious bar and threatened to enact an earlier closing time.

The three-member board voted unanimously to punish the Press Box after listening to the police chief, two city councilors, the city solicitor and neighbors tell stories of fights, assaults, intoxication and urination outside the Park Street bar.

"It just keeps building and building and building to the point where we feel appropriate action is necessary," police Lt. John Roccio told the board at City Hall. "We're putting police officers in harm's way weekly down there. We beseech you to help us."

Unless it files an appeal, the Press Box will be forced to close on three consecutive Fridays starting the day after Thanksgiving and will also have to close on three other days of the owner's choosing. The board also said it will consider forcing the Park Street bar to close at 11 p.m., two hours earlier than usual.

The punishment came at the urging of police Chief Mark Ray, City Councilors Wes Slate and Kevin Hobin, and City Solicitor Roy Gelineau, who all spoke in favor of strong consequences for the bar. Mayor Bill Scanlon did not speak but sat in the front row next to Ray. Five other city councilors and four police officers were also in attendance.

Jack Altshuler, the Press Box lawyer, made note of the unusual show of force on the part of the city, saying he was "awed by this audience," and said the crescendo of complaints made the Press Box sound like "downtown Baghdad." He acknowledged problems but said police have been over-vigilant in their scrutiny of the bar.

Patrolman Michael Boccuzzi, the department's crime analyst, displayed a slide showing that police have responded to 122 calls at the Press Box this year. The next highest was 24, at the Panther Pub.

Altshuler mounted a vigorous defense, saying many of those calls were for minor incidents such as a broken water pipe or a lost cell phone. He also said the bar's management shouldn't be held accountable for what happens outside the bar.

"Is the Press Box responsible for guys urinating in the park across the street?" he asked.

"Jack, the inference is that they're responsible for putting in what was coming out," countered board member Ronald Ranta.

Ray said police responded to five incidents last week, even after the Press Box was warned at last month's Licensing Board meeting.

On Oct. 25, a Press Box patron was arrested and charged with assault and battery after he kicked a police officer.

Ray said so many police officers have to respond to the Press Box at the 1 a.m. closing time that it's putting the rest of the city at risk. Roccio said all seven cruisers on patrol had to go to the bar on Sept. 18, when two people were arrested and charged with assault and battery with knives.

"We're spending a lot of time there," Ray said. "The rest of the city is not getting the attention it should."

Altshuler said the Press Box has been the victim of a changing Rantoul Street. The area around the train depot, which for years was home to small industrial businesses, now includes more high-priced condominiums, including Depot Square right next door to the Press Box.

"Now all of a sudden Rantoul Street is changing," Altshuler said. "Rantoul Street doesn't want it anymore."

Two residents of Depot Square spoke in favor of punishing the Press Box. One woman, who did not want to give her name because she said she feared retribution, said she wears ear plugs at night and keeps the windows closed due to all the noise at the bar.

"One night at 1 in the morning I literally thought somebody was being murdered. The screams were that loud," she said.

Altshuler said the MBTA and the city were once eyeing the Press Box as the location for a planned new parking garage and had threatened to take the building by eminent domain. City Solicitor Roy Gelineau said the Press Box site is no longer under consideration and that the MBTA is considering other sites.

"I don't want the public to get the impression that we're picking on the Press Box because we want that property," Gelineau said. "That is not true."

This marks the seventh time the Press Box's license has been suspended since 1981. Owner Baylus Baum said he stopped using a disc jockey last week and hopes that will eliminate some of his rowdier customers. He said the bar will now focus on pool, darts and TV for entertainment.

"We're going be just a corner bar, a neighborhood bar," he said.