Public, which has been served a cease and desist order by the city for alleged violations of zoning code for alterations made at the Main Street bar, was faced with further complications when the state suspended the restaurant's ability to operate after a melee at the bar early Sunday morning.
The bar was not open for operation on New Year's Eve.
While no arrests were made, Middletown Police responded to a call in which several hundred patrons were involved in an altercation at the bar.
Public is scheduled to appeal the cease and desist order at the next meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals on January 7.
From the Department of Consumer Protection:
Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell, Jr. today signed an order immediately and summarily suspending the liquor permit of Public Bar and Grill, an establishment at 337 Main Street in Middletown.“My decision to summarily suspend Public Bar’s permit is based on a City of Middletown Police Department report and referral, which indicates that on December 27th at approximately 1am, the Middletown Police Department was confronted with an out-of-control situation at this location,” Farrell said. “In addition to the entire police shift on duty at the time, three additional officers had to respond to this location because of altercations that were occurring, and the refusal of many patrons to cooperate in allowing the police to move in and break up the violence.”
According to police reports, approximately 300 people were present at the time, “numerous visibly intoxicated”, and the large number of people physically prevented the police from maneuvering through the crowd and responding to the specific locations within the facility where violence was occurring.
In a letter this morning to Commissioner Farrell, Middletown Acting Deputy Chief of Police Gregory Sneed wrote, “as a result of these disturbances, this agency was required to utilize all of their available personnel….this commitment left no police coverage for the remainder of Middletown’s 42 square miles….this type of drain on human resources left the remainder of the city unprotected during this time and compromises out public safety efforts.”
“An establishment that has a liquor license cannot allow the manner in which it conducts business to put public health and safety in jeopardy,” Farrell said. “In this situation, the health, safety and welfare of the public present at this location was endangered, as well as the health and safety of the police who were forced to respond to the situation that they could not control,” Farrell said. “But also very disturbing is the fact that an entire police shift was occupied by this incident, jeopardizing the public health, safety and welfare of other citizens in that city who may have needed police or fire assistance.”
Until such time as a hearing is held on the matters raised by the summary suspension, the liquor permit for Public Bar will remain suspended and no alcohol shall be sold, delivered, offered, ordered or received during the period of suspension. Commissioner Farrell praised the work of the Middletown Police Department. “We appreciate the work of the Middletown Police Department in bringing this matter to our attention. We will work with communities to insure the health and safety of the public at all establishments that have liquor licenses,” Farrell said.
14 comments:
Public is clearly on notice and they still can't or don't care to control the place. The owner is simply milking it for all the money he can get.
Lets hope P&Z holds to their conditions of approval, its time to pull the approval and send this guy packing.
This guy seems to have had more than his share of chances. If he's not operating to his conditions of approval, he needs to go!
Keeping Main Street calm will encourage future investment by potential new restaurant and night club owners.
Allowing garbage like this to continue will turn Middletown into downtown Meriden in no time.
Public is a a great bar- it gets sooo packed because it is a great bar- one of few where conversations can be heard inside, drinks are reasonable, and music is a given a proper stage- it is a classy establishment.
There are plenty of bouncers/doormen on staff.
I do not condone altercations however, give Public a chance to fix its violations.
80 calls in the past year seem like an inordinately high amount of calls. Seems like the place has been given a few chances.
I'm still trying to reconcile the idea of a classy establishment with plenty of bouncers!
My husband and I enjoyed going to the Public the first few times, when they had live jazz on Tuesday nights.
By the last couple of visits, there was virtually no food on offer -- only greasy calimari or limp taco chips. Worse, we had to beg for table service: there seemed to be no staff other than a lone bartender.
The "bar crowd" wasn't there to hear the music, so the noise became competitive. The jazz was a great idea that became incongruous with its surroundings.
I'm curious as to what actually occurred at Public on the evening in question. What is the thinking of a police department that sends all "available personnel" to a bar fight, thereby leaving the remainder of Middletown without sufficient police coverage. In the end, no one was arrested and the reporting lists no serious injuries or deaths. Is it possible that the police department overreacted?
As for pulling their liquor license effective on New Year's Eve, that is a nasty thing to do to a business on what will be their last good night of sales before the winter doldrums set in. Many bars/restaurants count on the earnings from this one night to carry them through the next couple months.
Especially in this economy, this seems like a mean spirited and harmful action. Does anyone remember how long that space sat vacant after Bob's left? The young bar crowd may not be your thing (and the food may suck), but this is no reason to effectively cripple a business owner who has invested time and money into a space that seemingly no one else was willing to invest in. As a case in point, the remainder of the Bob's building is still vacant
I hope Public gets their liquor license back and wish them success in the years to come. Otherwise, we can expect to see another empty storefront on Main Street.
Yes, it is better to have people stabbed or shot than to have an empty storefront. Wake up, your breakfast with Mickey and Donald Duck is ready.
PUBLIC IS ON ITS WAY OUT BECAUSE THE POWERS THAT BE HAVE THEIR EYES SET THAT MARGARITAS WILL FILL THE SPACE
Just thinking about the future Anon.11:48. The natural progression in these situations is verbal to fists to weapons. Of course in the Land of Denial this is fear mongering.Read the papers, listen to the news. It's called "Real Life."
I'm sure Public and Tyler are doing all they can to work with the City of Middletown to follow the process of making things better. It's a successful establishment on Main St. with so many different kinds of people going and people that mess a good time for others by not being able to handle their alcohol. Every bar has its' own appeal. The Police Dept. needs to get their procedures together because the media reports are flat out lies. Jobs are at stake here and people that go to Public do LOVE it! Don't like it, don't go-save your bitching for your own boring lives. I hope Public is better than ever and this is a sign of big change.
The owner bears full responsibility for what happened at his bar that night. He chooses the patrons he targets, the bands he signs, the clientele he allows in, and what happens when that crowd get's out of hand. As far as the comment about what a police department is thinking having their entire on duty shift there. It's quiete simple, alcohol plus idiots equals fights. 300 plus unruley patrons who already have had too much to drink is a disaster waiting to happen. I think the people who criticize the police actions, should leave their numbers with PD. Next time this happens we can have them call you. Welcome to chaos, now stop
posting ignorant questions.
If Margarita's wants that place then where is the offer? Word on the street is Middletown wants to take over the building from the landlord. I don't think La Boca (a long established and liked business down the street) would like that very much. Margarita's is not classy and won't fit Main St. I think the City should take the building and make money off Public's success. Jealousy and shady deals behind the scenes will fall apart. That building needs work and Public could actually bring income in to fix it up. There's a solution for every problem and the owner works very hard and really does care. Get off his back! And stop putting down Middletown, it's a great lil city!
I think Anon.12:01 is probably correct (in spirit, if not in truth). There seems to be machinations at work behind the scenes. The same boring people want to impose their ideas of social acceptability on all the citizens of our town.
I guess Anon.12:25 is the censor, as my 11:48 comment never posted. Clearly you are quite cynical about the "natural progression" of human conflict. Take heart, the world ain't such a bad place.
I don't particularly like Public but it's decidedly unfair to label it as has been done repeatedly in these comments. Blaming the "bands he books" is some classic hysteria; please remember, rock and roll was once going to ruin the youth and before that jazz was "devil's music."
Moreover, the Middletown police have both a history of over- and under-reacting - does anyone remember the "riot" at Wesleyan a few years back? That one where they used dogs and tear gas on a block party? Yet I can't get them to come chase a few hookers off my street...
Seriously, let's all hope Public pulls it together and stays in business with good practices because a little diversity (even though it's just another restaurant/bar) is a good thing. Most places are closed by midnight and even though i hate the music they book I'm glad that the people that like it have a place to go see it.
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