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Trouble-Plagued Village Hot Spot Veranda Closed After Losing Liquor License

By Andrea Swalec | January 17, 2013 7:29am

WEST VILLAGE — Drinks have stopped flowing at the troubled Seventh Avenue South hotspot Veranda after its owners lost their latest bid to keep their liquor license.

State court records show the self-described "restaurant by day and lounge by night," at 130 Seventh Ave. South near West 10th Street, is battling with the State Liquor Authority and state Supreme Court to regain its license, despite Department of Buildings violations for illegally operating as a nightclub and multiple noise complaints.

In a decision issued Dec. 27, the state appeals court upheld previous decisions by the State Supreme Court and SLA to deny a requested renewal of Veranda's booze license.

"The State Liquor Authority received complaints from petitioner's landlord, the local
community board and numerous concerned citizens, and reviewed notices of violation issued by the New York City Buildings, Police and Fire Departments to petitioner for, among other
things, operating an 'illegal cabaret' without a license," the ruling states.

The location, which has quietly closed, currently has no active liquor license, an SLA spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

Calls to Veranda went unanswered Wednesday, and the owner's attorney did not immediately respond to an inquiry.

Signs posted outside the bar and restaurant say the hot spot "will be closed for the next few weeks" without elaborating about whether it plans to operate solely as a restaurant not serving alcohol.

This is not the first attention Veranda has gotten from the state Attorney General.

The office fined the restaurant $200,000 in March 2012 for underpaying more than two-dozen employees and then firing two who spoke out against their labor practices.