ONE OF New York’s most iconic Irish pubs is set to close permanently at the end of the month.
The Mean Fiddler will be a familiar sight to anyone who has ever traversed the Big Apple’s famous Times Square.
However, the famous Irish bar that has hosted everyone from Bono and Johnny Depp through to Jimmy Fallon and Liam Gallagher will close its doors permanently at the end of October.
The owners have cited Covid-19 as the main contributor to the bar-restaurant’s sad demise.
Not only did the pandemic prompt the temporary closure of the bar, the pub, which is a famous live-entertainment venue, has been unable to host musicians under the new restrictions.
With its landlords unwilling to relent on rent payments, owners Mike and Patrick McNamee were left with little choice but to close.
“We’ve only been doing 10 percent of our normal business,” Mike told The New York Post.
“We built beautiful outdoor seating but we can’t generate more than $1,500 in sales a day,” he added. “We’re losing $10,000 a week.”
Though the brothers pleaded with their landlords at the 266 W. 47th St. spot, Lloyd Goldman’s Building Management, for a temporary reduction on the $38,000 a month rent, their requests fell on deaf ears.
“All we wanted was a reduction until Gov. Cuomo allows us back,” McNamee said, adding that ultimately they “wouldn’t meet us half way, it was always 100 percent rent.”
The Mean Fiddler is just the latest in a series of much-cherish Irish pubs in the US that have been forced to close due to the pandemic.
Another Irish bar in Wisconsin recently launched an online fundraising campaign to try and help them through the pandemic.
Anyone wishing to donate can do so here.
