Photograph from Beer Authority
If you open up a bar in Hell's Kitchen, should you expect the air to smell fresh as a daisy? Newly opened bar and restaurant the Beer Authority is now blaming street vendors on West 40th Street for the dropoff in their business.
The $1.6 million-Beer Authority has 80 beers on tap and 100 bottles, as well as cask ales and growlers, plus a full menu. But those temptations aren't enough: According to DNAinfo, "owners say a frequent lunch and happy-hour crowd quickly dropped off because of a charcoal musk that permeates the entire building" generated by a food cart vendor parked directly in front of their entrance. Co-owner Joe Donagher said, "Nobody wants to come in here because of the stink. Customers walk in and leave before they can even order a beer."
Donagher claims they have tried to talk to the vendors, but no one has cooperated. The Health Department is apparently looking into the vendor and the local business improvement district tried to help by placing planters on the sidewalk (which were removed because they didn't have a permit to do so!). But a lawyer for the Street Vendor Project said, "This is New York City — there are lots of smells that happen around the streets." Hear that, coffee bean roasting hater?
