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Village Bartenders Toast Start of School Year

By Andrea Swalec | September 2, 2011 6:31am

GREENWICH VILLAGE — It's Welcome Week at NYU, and Village watering holes near campus are cheering.

The return of thousands of customers — some of which are so regular they've become like family to bar owners — is a business bonanza.

Triona McCloskey, owner of the Irish sports bar Triona's, on Sullivan Street near West 3rd Street, said she's so close with her young customers that they leave the keys to their apartments at the bar in case they get locked out.

"We're like a second home for them," McCloskey said, adding that business has increased as students return to the city. "We really missed them."

The half-price drinks Monday through Friday from 1 to 8 p.m. are likely as big a draw as the camaraderie.

Kevin McCresh, a bartender at The Back Fence on Bleecker Street, said he was happy to see students return but that there's a downside — young drinkers jump on stage with performers, go behind the bar and vomit, he said.
Kevin McCresh, a bartender at The Back Fence on Bleecker Street, said he was happy to see students return but that there's a downside — young drinkers jump on stage with performers, go behind the bar and vomit, he said.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

A few blocks away, Wicked Willy's at 149 Bleecker St. — which has lighted beer pong tables — sees about a 20 percent jump in business during the school year, said P.B., a manager who declined to provide her full name.

"When school is in session we always have a good turn out. We've missed them," she said.

NYU social work student Diana Fox, 29, who was at Wicked Willy's on Thursday afternoon, had a three-word explanation for why the bar is so popular with students: "one-dollar beers."

Bottles of Miller Light sell for $1 Monday through Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m.

Kevin McCresh, a bartender at The Back Fence on Bleecker Street, near Thompson Street, said he was happy to see students return, even though there's a downside — young drinkers jump on stage with performers, go behind the bar and vomit, he said.

"[Students' return] is good for business as long as no one gets out of hand," McCresh said.

Cindy Villegas, a bartender at Thunder Jackson's on Bleecker and Sullivan streets, warned the influx of students brings an increased number of would-be underage drinkers.

"There's even more of a push to ID people now. [The fines for serving minors] are really big tickets," she said.