Delaware County bar shuttered after numerous noise and gunfire complaints
CLIFTON HEIGHTS, Pa. - A Delaware County bar is shut down Friday night, ordered to close its doors because of complaints about gunfire and noise.
There won’t be a happy hour at Rose Bar and Kitchen in Clifton Heights until June 10th. The corner bar in the tiny Delco borough has been a big problem for months.
"Over two years, we’ve had about 20 complaints," Clifton Heights mayor, Mark Campbell, said. "In November, we had a shooting outside the bar and, then in January, we had another shooting."
The mayor tells FOX 29 the borough went to court to shut down the tavern. The complaint called the bar, "a common nuisance" and attracts a "criminal element." Neighbors seem to agree.
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"Even when the bar is closed, they stood out here fighting. I heard gunshots in January," one neighbor described.
FOX 29’s Chris O’Connell spoke to the bar’s owner, who identified himself as Mikey.
"Sometimes things happen, once in a while, but it’s a bar, right?" Mikey stated.
Although he disputed some of the claims in the complaint, he agreed to temporarily close his doors for 90 days and retrain his armed security guards before reopening.
"I’m going to follow what I should do and I will be more careful. That’s all I have to do," Mikey added.
Borough officials say the bar has been here for decades, but only recently became a nuisance. They’re hoping a temporary shutdown will clean things up.
"I think it sends a huge message to the bars in our town, and then other towns, that we’re not gonna take it," Mayor Campbell explained. "We’re not gonna sit there and let that happen to our town."