There's understandably cause for concern when your favorite bar-restaurant shows up on a CB3-SLA meeting agenda with a new ownership team. (
The Grassroots Tavern is one recent example.)
However, in the case of
the 11th Street Bar, new ownership is expected to pretty much mean business as usual.
Dan Sweeney, a bartender at the pub between Avenue A and Avenue B these past seven-plus years, is one of the principals buying the 11th Street Bar. (One of the original 11th Street Bar owners is deceased and the other moved to Texas.)
Last week, CB3's SLA committee approved the new liquor-license application from Sweeney and his partners, Diarmuid and Meghan Joye, who own two Lower East Side Bars (
Donnybrook and Lucky Jack's) as well as Blue Haven on West Houston Street. (Meghan Joye is also a member of CB3, where she is economic development chair.)
Sweeney told EVG correspondent Steven that they weren't planning on many changes, aside from a new awning as well as an expanded food/snacks menu.
In addition, the 11th Street Bar will continue on with its music nights, such as the Irish sessions on Sundays and jazz on Mondays.
Sweeney, a Long Island native,
was employed as a financial analyst after college. He was in 7 World Trade Center on 9/11. That experience prompted him to take a different career path. Before starting at the 11th Street Bar, he worked for 10 years at
the Saint Mark's Ale House.
The 11th Street Bar opened in January 1997.
H/T Gary!
[DanceFest photo from 2017 by Stacie Joy]
