Fenwick's on track to keep liquor license

After years of troubles with the law for serving alcohol to minors and criticism from neighbors over noise and other problems, Fenwick’s Bar & Grill got a green light to renew its liquor license.

Community Board (CB) 8’s Public Safety Committee voted in favor of a license for the 432 W. 238th St. bar after hearing from owners Joe Crotty and Ernie Carafa and manager Patrick Doherty on Sept. 17.

“We just purchased a new, top of the line ID scanner,” said Mr. Crotty. “It now not only scans and verifies information, but takes a picture of the ID and records it.”

The scanner, designed to keep underaged patrons out of Fenwick’s past 10:30 p.m., was purchased on the advice of the 50th Precinct to deter Manhattan College underclassman from coming into the bar.

Mr. Doherty, who also doubles as a bouncer at night, said in an interview before the hearing that the issue with keeping students out is that they often have multiple, high-quality fake IDs that even he cannot spot.

“We want to cooperate [with police],” said Mr. Doherty. “But how can we be to blame for people coming in fraud?”

Fenwick’s has had several run-ins with the law in recent years. Eight underage drinkers were busted there on Valentine’s Day this year. Neighbors have filed police complaints about run-ins with rowdy patrons as well.

The bar is located across the street from Manhattan College’s upperclassman, apartment-style dormitory, called Overlook, and is a bar of choice for many students.

“I am one of the people who calls to complain about noise, and I live on Greystone Avenue,” said resident Tom Healy. “My problem is that the students are coming down from the bars up top on Riverdale Avenue past my house urinating, screaming and everything else, going to either the dorms or the other bars.”

Mr. Healy said the problem hardly comes from Fenwick’s, but instead from noisy students travelling between several bars.  

“I end up having to scream at 40 kids from my porch,” he said. “And then I have 40 kids screaming back at me.” 

Mr. Crotty tried to assure residents and members of the board that Fenwick’s does everything in its power to alleviate the noise problem in the neighborhood.

“We have a policy, if they’re coming from the other bars, if they’re drunk, if they’re loud, if they’re obnoxious, they’re not coming into our business,” Mr. Crotty said. “For many reasons, for one, we don’t want that many kids who’ve been drinking somewhere else all night, now they’re on the street carrying on and walking in our doors.”

Mr. Doherty and Mr. Crotty also pointed out that they try every night to make sure that the sidewalk in front of the bar is clear of loiterers and patrons.

“No one is allowed to stand in front of our bar,” Mr. Crotty said. “If someone steps outside to smoke a cigarette, we have them step outside, let them smoke and then bring them back in.  We also have cameras watching the whole entrance to our property.”

The root of the problem, they said, came mostly from Jasper Deli next door, which also sells alcohol to students, who then take it home to drink in either the dorms or their own off-campus housing.

“That’s what happens when you raid our bar, the kids run away, they run to their house and they have unsupervised parties in their dorms and in their houses,” said Mr. Carafa. “At least when they are in our bar, they’re supervised.”

Since classes went back in session three weeks ago, Fenwick’s has been raided every weekend by police officers responding to noise complaints. 

“They wanted to send a message right off the bat,” Mr. Doherty said. “I am a lifelong resident of the community and I want to cooperate in any way in full.”