The exterior of the now closed Station Bar (Facebook: Patrick Sweeney)
Aug. 23, 2019 By Shane O’Brien
A popular Irish dive bar in Woodside has been shut down for over a month for operating without a food handling license, causing dismay among the bar’s patrons.
Station Bar at 39-50 61st St. was ordered to cease operations by order of the New York Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene on Thursday, July 18.
One patron scrawled writing over the Health Dept. notice to voice displeasure over the bar’s closure and called for the owners to reopen it. “Paddy, git dat permit fixed and open our pub again,” the patron wrote. Others took to social media to vent their frustration.
One social media user said that they would “lose their mind if anything happened to the Station,” while another called it the “last real bar in Woodside.”
The bar’s food handling license expired on Oct. 31, 2018. However, the operators continued to serve food without a permit thereafter, according to the DOH.
The DOH cited the bar for operating without a permit in February and March this year, before closing the establishment last month.
Closure notice at Station Bar (Patrick Sweeney)
The DOH said that the bar can reopen once the operators obtain a food handling license. The bar’s owners will have to pay a fine and reapply for the license. It is unclear how long it would take for an application to be approved.
The bar’s owners were unavailable for comment and it is unclear whether they intend to reapply for a license or not.
Station Bar was an Irish dive bar featuring memorabilia from Irish sports and the New York Mets among other sports teams. The establishment was formerly known as Station Cafe.
