It's a given.. every Friday and Saturday night ..
Fights at or around the HARDWARE BAR.
I cringe. Our poor police come rushing to the scene. I worry about them.
I also worry about someone getting shot.
Well, it almost happened on Saturday morning.” Shots fired” 2:15 a.m. in the Parkade .
Now let me tell you that parkade is packed on a weekend night. And some jerk is just shooting!
Thank God no one was hurt. It was a miracle because I am sure it was packed with people leaving the bar.
Thank you to the police, the witnesses and the residents of Provincial Towers ( God bless those poor folks for putting up with this night after night ) .
The shooter was caught.
Enough is enough with this bar.
Night after night there are fights and property being destroyed.
Windows broken, bottles and vomit everywhere. And let’s not forget the idiots who pull the fire alarms in the parkade every Friday and Saturday. Real funny.. our firefighters have to go out for this nonsense.
This bar promotes excessive drinking. I have seen the patrons coming out. It is quite an experience.
It is a “ BACHELOR PARTY” atmosphere.
Our police respond and some have gotten hurt.
And when they do get hurt, I am sure the taxpayers will foot the bill. And in the meantime 911 is holding calls from all over the city because our police are too busy with the drunks to tend to the taxpayers .
Who benefits from this bar? Not the surrounding businesses. They are closed. And not even the parkade. There are no fees after 8 p.m.
I am all for having fun.. and bars have been in downtown forever but nothing like this.
It is a nuisance bar. Period.
Identifying Nuisance Bars
Although there may be numerous ways to identify a nuisance bar, the most common avenues are through:
- Police reports
- Pa Liquor Control Board and Pa Liquor Control Enforcement citations
- City Code violations
- Citizen complaints
911 has the ability to check the call logs and see how many times the police have been called to this place. I think it would really be an eye-opener.
West Chester had the right idea..
Bar with hard first year shuts its doors
Permanent residents of this neighborhood have long complained about the rowdy, drunken behavior some of their student neighbors exhibit.Shortly after the Hardware Bar opened, the proprietor started papering South Walnut Street with advertisements for cheap drinks and for what some residents regarded as trashy events.
One flier advertised $3 Long Island Iced Teas. Another advertised an event called "Bras Across Walnut Street," a Haiti benefit. Many of its fliers noted patrons had to be "18 to party, 21 to drink."
Residents said they believed the Hardware Bar's marketing strategy encouraged underage drinking and belligerent drunkenness. In January, their complaints prompted state Liquor Control Enforcement to conduct an investigation.
It is my humble opinion that this is NOT the kind of bar we need in the heart of our city. It is sleazy and crude.
What is a public nuisance bar?
A “public nuisance bar” is one with illegal or unreasonable conditions or activities that interfere with public rights or prevents law-abiding members of the community from living in peace. Examples of such conditions or activities include:
- Prostitution
- Gambling
- Vandalism
- Drug Usage
- Drug Dealing
- Guns/Weapons
- Shootings
- Homicides
- Service to Visibly Intoxicated Persons
- Minors
- Trash
- Noise
- Urinating / Vomiting
- Fighting
Excellent post, Char. The pictures really drive home your point about the excess drinking and the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteMark
Great job by WBPD, Legion Security and Hawkeye capturing on video and Provincial Towers resident calling 911. Tht's the way its sposed to work.
ReplyDeleteWHEN is someone going to do something about that bar. It is a nuisance.
Regardless of what the Mayor says, W-B downtown is NOT safe. Vandals attack business,automobiles,
ReplyDeletepeople,and property.
They trash the streets, urinate in public, and
damage public property. This never was to the extent that it is, until this bar was opened.
Resolution?...close the bar! Let other establishments know that this type of conduct will not be the norm for our community.
This seems more about your dislike of the sponsored events rather than actual reported statistics.
ReplyDeleteAlcohol = trouble......anywhere.
EVERY bar has complaints.
Wow, What are they doing on the bar? Meat market,display, How discussing. Where are these peoples manners or respect for other people.
ReplyDeleteI saw a mailing this bar sent out acknowledging someone's 21st birthday. (How did they know? Do they have kids register with them in advance?) It showed a baby in a party hat, the baby's face covered with icing. It said "Come and get messed up for your birthday!" Hey, remember to drink responsibly.
ReplyDeleteLast week they ran an ALL-YOU-CAN-DRINK special. What a great idea. Can't the police just station themselves outside the doors of this place with extra-large paddy wagons?
The big question being,"Is this business on the tax rolls, or is it KOZ"?
ReplyDeleteHow many calls have been made necessitating Police response since it opened?
And finally, how long will the community put up with this?
What's it going to take, a repeat of the Whitehouse cafe, someone being seriously injured or someone being killed before any action is taken about this nuisance bar!
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me begin by saying i do believe that the hardware bar overserves it's patrons and that they are a nuisence. That being said, it is not the only bar in the area. The night of the shooting, there was a fight that began inside Rodano's. That fight spilled outside and all available police units responded. Shortly thereafter, the shots fired in the parkade occurred. It was a separate incident, but the "victims", who started the fight, were drunk and had been at Rodano's. The shooter was previously at Hardware. The parkade holds the vehicles for all the bars of the downtown area, including Jardware, Rodano's, and Bart and Urby's. It is unfair to always blame the Hardware Bar for all of the drunken fools downtown after hours
ReplyDeleteI spent time in all the above bars and can promise you with no hesitation that the Hardware Bar is the worst of the lot. The Hardware Bar caters to inexperienced drinkers looking to get inebriated quickly and cheaply. Rodanos is slightly better and - despite having shady political ties - they actually serve food, which tends to attenuate drinking. Burt and Urbys is not even in the same league as these places. It's much smaller, attracts an older crows and is not really something to be worried about. The Hardware Bar is also taking over the site of LUNA. That should be looked into.
ReplyDeleteWhen Mayor Tom Leighton had the idea of promoting more businesses move to the downtown area, I don't think this is what he had in mind, 90% bars. This area is saturated with bars and with more bars comes more trouble. Granted most of the others in surrounding area haven't been much, or any trouble at all, But Hardware (both here and Philadelphia) have been nothing but a an invitation for fighting, shootings, reckless behavior and a breeding ground for undesirables. YES, UNDESIRABLES like the trash that migrated from White House Cafe and Glass Bar. Drug dealers and common thugs. Luna's next incarnation is supposedly going to be an Irish pub of some sort owned by the people who brought you Hardware, so be aware and beware of Hardware part 2.
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd share....
ReplyDeleteAt 4:45pm (Thursday Dec 3) on public square at the Wachovia ATM.
I was withdrawing money and was propositioned by a prostitute. She asked if I was staying at the Ramada and would like some company. I asked her what she did and her eyes got big and said messages that verified my suspicion, sadly.....
Wilkes-Barre man oh man
First of all, how can you just blaim the "HARDWARE BAR"?? You have a nutjob of a bouncer working the door at Rodanos who accepts college IDs with no birth date on them as a form of ID and the place is CRAWLING with underagers which that equals HUGE TROUBLE! Or Bart and Urbys, same deal!! Why only blaim the "HARDWARE BAR" when you have two other bars ajacent to Hardware that have problems as well or could have easily came from there and started a problem in the parkade?! And even if there was problems in the PARKADE, how is that Hardwares fault?! Those people got drunk, got stupid, did stupid things and are most likely ban from the bar now, so how is that there problem? They dont own the parkade?! What you do when you leave the property is on YOU! As for "prostitution, gambling, minors"??? WB Hardware DOES NOT allow minors in that door! There bouncer who works the door is an ID Expert when it comes to fakes, out of states that are fake, people are trying to use other peoples ID's, the guys is a genious! Prostitutes, Gambling??? Sorry, this isnt Gentlemens Ten where you could have sex with a girl, watch a girl have sex with another girl, or pay for sex! Try that place and then you can decide what place is worse!! Just because bartenders, waitress's walk around in little clothing doesnt make them a prostitute! Half of the staff there is hard working, is paying for a child, or college, or trying to get by in life!! You all have alot of nerve blaiming that bar where this happens EVERYWHERE!!! The bouncing staff there is incerdible and does there job, so what these people do when they leave the doors should not be reflected on hardware just because they were there drinking and fought out in the parkade or shot someone, does not make HARDWARE responsible for it!! If it happened on the property, in the club, in hardware itself, our the other bar in there then I can understand where you are all coming from but it didnt. And out of respect for the girls who work there, maybe you should take there pictures down of of this website!! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteand fyi there is no hardware in philly so get your facts straight!!!
ReplyDeleteand one more fyi, there is two police men outside the doors every night!
ReplyDeleteohh and thank you Po Po, did you all read that????? THE VICTIM WAS AT RODANOS ALSO!!!
ReplyDeleteI visit hardware frequently on one of their "cheap drink nights." Yes, $3 mixed drink pitchers may get you drunk quick, but from seeing other people getting thrown out, the bouncers do their job well. Granted, I prefer to go there when my friends from college are all going, which accounts for a very large group of people going to the bar. I have only seen one or two fights there, and they were definitely not college students. The bars have sprung up because of the market of college students in the area. Some Wilkes Barre residents are 100x more trashy than any college student, and think fighting is alright... which is a sad thing. I like having a place to go with good specials, and I think that hardware's theme is legal, and they have good bouncers. There are a multitude of bars that one can go to downtown, just Hardware is able to afford the best specials and attract the biggest crowds. Again, I only go there with a large group of people (ie, a senior social or other event) so I don't know what happens on other nights that I am not there.
ReplyDelete