Prohibition couldn't close it. But health code inspectors, and a disgusting report of rats, forced the doors closed at the iconic McSorley's Old Ale House Tuesday in the East Village.
This is the first time the bar has closed since it opened in 1854, the owner's son-in law Gregory Delahaba told WNYW.
The bar opened as an Irish saloon and was one of the city's last "male only" bars until a 1970 Supreme Court judgment forced the establishment to admit women.
It's aged wooden seats have hosted the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, John Lennon and Hunter S. Thompson.
It serves two types of beer, a light and a dark ale.
Health inspectors found food stored at the wrong temperature, evidence of rat activity and conditions that would allow vermin and pest activity, according to WNYW.
A construction project installing new gas lines left areas of the walls and floors open giving rats access, Delahaba said.
The bar can reopen after the violations are fixed and it is reinspected.
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