WASHINGTON — One of the oldest and most historic pubs in New York has been shut down due to a raft of health-code violations.
McSorley’s Old Ale House was shut down Thursday by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene after inspectors found rats, as well as food being kept at incorrect temperatures, the New York Daily News reports.
The pub, on East 7th Street in the East Village, opened in 1854. It serves dark ale and light ale — that’s it. It was male-only until 1970, only opening to women after a lawsuit.
CBS New York reports that the health department says McSorley’s can reopen once it corrects the health hazards, and that if it could have corrected them as soon as they were discovered, it could have stayed open.
The website DNAInfo New York says that owner Matthew Maher, 70, blames the rats on area construction, and adds, “Can you imagine New York City anywhere there isn’t a rat? Are you kidding me?”
The New York Times reports the bar is full of memorabilia, including photos of guests such as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a wanted poster for Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth and a collection of wishbones hung on from a lamp by soldiers who stopped by McSorley’s on the way to wars ranging from World War I to Iraq. The bones hung by those who never returned — about two dozen — were left up there.
In 2011, The Times reports, the bones were cleaned of dust for the first time ever. Owner Maher did the job himself, removing more than an inch of dust; some bones crumbled in his hands.
