Waxy's A No Show At Public Hearing: Health Board Suspends License

FOXBOROUGH, MA — Representatives from the Irish pub, Waxy O'Conner's were scheduled to appear before the health department on Monday night, following reported health code violations that shut down the restaurant. But no one from Waxy's showed up, so the health department voted to suspend the pub's operating license until ownership meets with the board.

The no-show came as no surprise, since Waxy's announced it was closing on Jan. 6, in a post on its Facebook page, where it blamed the health department for taking "punitive measures," which caused the pub to close. Waxy's owner Paul McKenna also sent the health department an email on Monday around 4:30 p.m., chairman Paul Steeves said.

"Due to being closed for business, Waxy’s will not be here at tonight’s meeting,” the email read.

Given these announcements were via email and social media, the health department said it's not considering Waxy's closing as official, since no one from the restaurant has come before the board.

“We don’t care if they ‘re closed or not closed, we just care that they aren’t doing business," health department vice chair Eric Arvedon said... "We have to have the assumption they are still in business.”

The health department decided to suspend the license rather than permanently revoke it, and voted not to take any action beyond that without Waxy's appearing before the the department.

Waxy O'Conner's did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

The health department originally closed the pub following a failed health inspection on Dec. 26. Some of the more serious violations included perishable food coming in non-refrigerated vans, mold on a refrigerator and lack of cleaning products in the bar area. On Jan. 6, Waxy O' Connor's announced it was closing in a press release, and said it blames the town for taking measures that made it impossible to stay in business.

The health department disputed Waxy's claims. Arvedon said the pub were repeat offenders and had six pages of health code violations.

Retraction: a previous version of the story attributed a quote to Todd Whitehouse rather than Eric Arvedon. It has been updated to quote the appropriate source.

Photo by Jimmy Bentley