Beloved East Village Bar McSorley's Temporarily Shut Down by Health Department

EAST VILLAGE, NY — A 162-year-old beloved East Village watering hole has been temporarily shut down by the Health Department (DOH), multiple news outlets report. DOH's infamous yellow flyer was put on the front window of McSorley's Old Ale House between Cooper Square and Taras Shevchenko Place Wednesday.

According to Eater New York, there's currently no information available about yesterday's inspection. Gothamist, on the other hand, says the bar is temporarily shuttered for rat activity, conditions favorable to vermin and pest activity, and food held at the wrong temperature.

McSorley's is known for many things, including wishbones hanging from a gas lamp above the bar. The proprietor, Matthew Maher, said the bones were hung up by doughboys as wishful symbols of a safe return from various U.S. wars, like WWI and the War in Iraq.

In 2011, DOH said they strongly encouraged that the bar should remove or clean the wishbones above the chandelier. Officials were concerned that dust will fall into the drinks or onto their bar patrons.

In 2015, DOH gave McSorley's a sanitary violation for: "Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly."

McSorley's was nailed again in 2016 for: "Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained and/or not properly sealed, raised, spaced or movable to allow accessibility for cleaning on all sides, above and underneath the unit."

Patch tried calling McSorley's, but nobody picked up the phone.

Photo courtesy of John Wisniewski/Flickr