FINANCIAL DISTRICT — At 69, retired firefighter Bill Ahearn said he still wasn't quite ready to give up his Suspenders.
Ahearn, the co-owner of beloved Financial District pub and restaurant Suspenders, was forced to shutter the 26-year-old basement bar last May, after his landlord refused to renew the lease — but now he's prepping to relaunch in a new space this October.
"I didn't want that to be the way Suspenders ended, we didn't want to leave our family down here like that," Ahearn said. "We've put a lot of heart and soul into this bar, into this neighborhood, and we really wanted to come back."
The 111 Broadway pub, started by Ahearn and other retired firemen, became something of a makeshift home for rescue workers in the months after 9/11 and was long known by regulars for its homey feel.
Ahearn said it took them months to find their new location, a second-floor, 250-square-foot space at 108 Greenwich St. that's about half the size of their original home.
"Rent prices are very high down here, but we were determined to open here again," Ahearn said. "Terrorist attacks and recessions didn't stop us before — we don't stop easily."
Much of the familiar trappings of the pub — the long, mahogany bar, the stained glass windows — will be back up in the new location, Ahearn said.
"We're just looking forward to being back in the area, we love it here, we love the community," Ahearn said.
Earlier this week, Community Board 1's Financial District committee gave the new, 70-seat bar its full support for a 2 a.m. liquor license application.
A few members asked about a line in the application that said the venue would have live music.
There wouldn't really be live music, Ahearn assured them — just the occasional bag pipes.
Suspenders hopes to open sometime in October, but a date hasn't been set yet.
