Regulators Chase Cat from Bar and Are Shocked When Mice Appear

One of New York City’s oldest bars recently was shut down for a few days. McSorley’s Old Ale House has operated in the East Village for 162 years, and even kept its doors open during Prohibition. (They peddled “near beer” during those dark days.) It’s a grand old place, whose walls and ceiling are covered with historical artifacts, such as a Teddy Roosevelt campaign poster. A pot belly stove sits in the front room, and saw dust is thrown on the floor to soak up spilled beer.

McSorley’s almost always is busy. Patrons include neighbors and tourists, blue-collar and white-collar guys alike, who fill the place with banter. A fussy visitor looking for froofy drinks and fancy cuisine will quickly be disabused; McSorley’s pours only two brews: McSorley’s light and McSorley’s dark. The menu is limited to simple fare, like ham sandwiches and sleeves of saltines served with blocks of cheese.

Inspectors from the city’s creepily-named Department of Health and Mental Hygiene claimed to have found rodent droppings in the basement, where the bar stores kegs of beer. So, boom, the bar was forced to close. Owners and employees lost earnings, and a couple who planned to get hitched at the bar that day had their nuptials disrupted....(Read more at AlcoholReviews.com)