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New Broome Street Bar Owner Promises 'Nothing's Going to Change'

 The new owner of Broome Street Bar assured Community Board 2's SLA committee the bar would stay exactly the same as it had been for decades under its recently deceased owner, Kenn Reisdorff.
The new owner of Broome Street Bar assured Community Board 2's SLA committee the bar would stay exactly the same as it had been for decades under its recently deceased owner, Kenn Reisdorff.
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DNAinfo/Danielle Tcholakian

SOHO — Broome Street Bar regulars have nothing to fear from the SoHo stalwart's new owner — because he's one of them.

Jonathan Kaufman, a regular for 35 years and close friend of the bar's late owner Kenn Reisdorff for 20 years, now holds a 60 percent share of the business after Riesdorff's daughter sold the majority stake to him.

Reisdorff left the bar to his daughter, Julie Reisdorff-Parker, when he passed away last year. Reisdorff-Parker still owns the remaining 40 percent of the business, Kaufman said at a public meeting Tuesday night to ask the board's support for a State Liquor Authority application to add his name to the bar's liquor license.

Kaufman told Community Board 2's liquor license committee that selling shares in the business to him was "a way to keep her father's legacy alive, because nothing's going to change" on his watch.

Even the staff will remain the same, Kaufman said.

"They're like family too," he said.

He assured the committee he would keep close tabs on the bar's operations, as he lives only seven minutes away by train.

"I'll be coming in every morning to see how it's going," he said. "[And I'll] come back at night some nights, just make sure everything is Kenn's Broome Street Bar, because that's what I want it to be."

Regulars panicked after Reisdorff passed away and the New York Post reported that his daughter sold the bar to local nightlife magnate Jon Krasner, who owns popular spots around the city and in the Hamptons.

The report turned out to be inaccurate, however, as Reisdorff-Parker renewed the bar's lease in the space this past January.