Looks Like Somebody Was Busy This Weekend: L&I Shuts Down Drinkers Midtown, McGlinchey’s, Others?
It’s been a good long while since Philadelphia’s most genteel and honorable city department, Licenses & Inspections, went on a good old fashioned Saturday night tear to see who they could shut down. (Which frankly always struck us as rather jive/bullying tactic, since in most cases, anything you could shut a bar down for on a Saturday night is something you could also shut a bar down for on a Wednesday morning.) So who got the hot poker? Drinkers Midtown, for one; and venerable dive McGlinchey’s. (One tipster also told us Vesuvio as well, but when we called to confirm, suddenly the line went silent and repeated calls thereafter went unanswered and did not even bounce to voicemail. So, uh, until we hear different, we’ll take that as a resounding “Yes.”) But the plot thickens: We’re also hearing that it wasn’t just L&I that was in on the raids this weekend; that, in at least once case, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board got in on the action, indicating that perhaps the raids were about something a little more sexy than, say, an oven that wasn’t up to code. Know more? Tell us!
July 27th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Douche class warfare? (I assume that McGlinchey’s was just thrown in as a distraction.)
July 27th, 2009 at 11:17 am
If they shut down Vesuvio, that means an uptick in drunken bicycling accidents between Fishtown and South Philly. I’m calling it now.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Maybe it had something to do with this:
http://blogs.phillymag.com/restaurant_club/2009/07/15/when-makers-mark-isnt/
July 27th, 2009 at 11:38 am
vesuvio had a sign up on saturday afternoon saying that they would be closed until thursday due to cleaning and maintenance.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:41 am
@billtheamoeba — I have heard that said about Vesuvio’s from a few sources. That place is gross and not in a good way. I have no idea how they got that damn sandwich award.
@note — As far as I can tell Vesuvio’s has never been cleaned, so a week long cleaning might be in order
July 27th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Also Saturday shutdown makes the most sense. Hit’em on their biggest night so they won’t forget it and they have maximum embarrassment in front of customers. Shows that L&I isn’t just a 9-5 m-F operation. For L&i peeps it probably just means maximum overtime.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:46 am
I personally have see a bartender at Dos Segundos fill up the rail tequila bottle with a funnel and plastic milk jug when it emptied. Majorly illegal.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:46 am
OH NOES! THEY SHUT DOWN THE BARS DOING WRONG THINGS on a night where doing it would have the most impact and send a stern warning to other bars that do such behavior that if you keep it up, you’ll get shut down, too?!
HOLY CRAP! WHY?! Why must the department of Licenses and Inspections do their job! Those dirty, dirty bastards…
July 27th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
That makes a bunch o’sense, I have had some of the worst Jameson at Vesuvio, I was blaming already being drunk at the time
July 27th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Foobooz is reporting Vesuvio was shut down for underage drinking and Drinkers for being a “public nuisance”
July 27th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
“Also if a temporarily nixed note- Vesuvio was shut down on Friday for underage drinking.”
http://foobooz.com/2009/07/and-you-thought-your-monday-morning-was-badcease-of-operations-for-drinkers/
July 27th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Doesn’t this belong in the Good Motherfuckin’ News Column?
July 27th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I understand the shutdowns of Drinkers and Vesuvio, but shouldn’t places like McGlinchey’s get some sort of scuzz-exemption?
July 27th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
L&I must like the month of July. They shut down Bob & Barbara’s and Tritone at around the same time last year. And isn’t it LCB who looks for underage drinking?
July 27th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
OSCARS TAVERN: the same bar you’ve always known.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:45 am
“I have no idea how they got that damn sandwich award”
They got that award years ago, when they had a decent chef- forget his name but he moved on to the royal tavern and took his burger with longhots with him.
“shouldn’t places like McGlinchey’s get some sort of scuzz-exemption?”
YES