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"Just Tiring": Historic Neir's Tavern Burglarized After Nearly Shuttering For Good This Year
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Sep 26, 2020
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Bridget Bartolini / Gothamist
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Sep 26, 2020
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After nearly shuttering for good earlier this year, and then surviving the COVID-19 pandemic despite a closure during the peak of cases, the near 200-year-old Neir's Tavern in Queens was burglarized on Friday morning, according to police and the bar's owner.
"It looks like someone burglarized the restaurant this morning," owner Loycent Gordon said in an emotional but wary Facebook video, at points turning the camera away after being overcome with emotion as he recounted what happened. "It's a crazy time we're living in.
"Just tiring, man. It's tiring. But either way, we'll try to push on, best possible, and we'll see what happens," Gordon said in the Facebook video on Friday morning.
"I just want to let you know that we're trying to see if we can get everything back together today," he said. "There's still an investigation that needs to be done."
The NYPD said two men opened the basement door at the tavern and stole a cash register with $300 inside and four bottles of alcohol.
In a surveillance video provided to NBC4 two suspects are seen walking inside the Woodhaven bar with masks and hooded-sweatshirts.
The investigation is ongoing, and the NYPD did not immediately have additional information about the two suspects.
In less than a day, a GoFundMe set up for the tavern raised nearly $2,500 for the tavern—one of NYC's oldest bars that was nearly forced to close earlier this year after the rent was hiked up by the building owner.
Gordon closed the tavern voluntarily in April, concerned his employees would be at risk if he continued to stay open for takeout while coronavirus swept through NYC. He's still negotiating with paying the backlog of rent
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