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Cairo Opening in Inwood Delayed as Bar Loses Liquor License

By Carla Zanoni | September 15, 2010 12:48pm | Updated on September 15, 2010 12:36pm

By Carla Zanoni

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

INWOOD — Signs outside the Cairo nightclub have read "coming soon" for months, but residents looking to party there will have to wait.

The empty nightclub at 400 West 202 Street had its liquor license disapproved by the State Liquor Authority after its application expired last month, attorneys for Cairo said. Getting another application could be tricky as Community Board 12 members feel the area has enough bars already.

Cairo's attorneys hesitate to call the mammoth 5,600 square-foot space a nightclub, though, despite ads on the Internet and messages on Twitter and Facebook. Instead, they call it an Egyptian-themed restaurant and lounge, and say they are working to get the doors open soon.

But getting past the community board could be tough.

“I’m beginning to think our community has a drinking problem,” CB12 board member Emilia Cardona said.

The SLA initially approved Cairo's liquor license in August 2009, but it was rescinded earlier this year after the authority learned one of the bars owners was arrested for allegedly driving drunk. The bar appealed the decision, but the liquor license application expired in mid-August.

The board voted against the license back in June 2009, citing too many complaints about established bars, restaurants and clubs in the area. Cairo sits in a largely industrial stretch of Inwood next to Umbrella, a controversial club that's had problems with fights, noise and traffic.