WEST VILLAGE — Chumley's moved one step closer to being able to reopen after eight years.
The one-time speakeasy's operator, retired firefighter Jim Miller, appeared before Community Board 2's liquor licensing committee Thursday night, winning the committee's approval by agreeing to reduce the bar's hours of operation to 11 a.m. through midnight Sunday to Thursday, and until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
The bar has been targeted by a small group of locals organized under the name "Bar-Free Bedford," who have brought lawsuits against the tavern as well as city and state agencies in a bid to stop it from reopening since its closure due to a collapsed wall in 2007.
"The 'anti' faction were present, passionate and largely conducted themselves professionally," Miller wrote in a Facebook post about the meeting. "The 'for's were disorganized and unpolished, myself included. A rag-tag group of locals, as advertised.
"The turnout was not as large as I thought it would be," Miller added. "But a community board committee meeting is a big ask. Dentists have a lower rejection rate due to the ready availability of Novocaine and nitrous oxide."
CB 2 liquor license committee co-chair Robert Ely confirmed the committee gave its conditional approval to Chumley's application before the State Liquor Authority.
The entire board will vote on the application at CB2's full board meeting on Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the Scholastic building's auditorium at 557 Broadway in SoHo.
Miller and his friends from Engine 24, the firehouse on Sixth Avenue just a few blocks from Chumley's, are eager to reopen the bar so they can celebrate a friend who was killed in the 2007 Deutsche Bank fire.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg named the street on Chumley's block for firefighter Bobby Beddia in 2009. But the firefighters held off on a formal dedication, wanting to hold the ceremony at Chumley's, where Beddia tended bar on Fridays and Sundays.
