TRENTON, N.J. (1010 WINS) -- Ten bars and restaurants in New Jersey could temporarily lose their liquor licenses for violating the state’s COVID-19 executive orders, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.
The New Jersey attorney general’s office and the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control are seeking to suspend the following establishments’ liquor licenses for violating public health orders, Murphy said at a news briefing Friday afternoon:
• Eddy’s Bar & Liquors, Bayonne. Cited for allowing patrons to sit at the bar and for failing to enforce face covering requirements. Penalty sought: 15-day suspension.
• Wicked Wolf, Hoboken. Cited for allowing patrons to sit at the bar. Penalty sought: 10-day suspension.
• Reilly’s Bar & Grill, Kearny. Cited for violating 10 p.m. curfew, allowing patrons to consume food/drink while not seated, and exceeding occupancy limits. Penalty sought: 30-day suspension.
• Graystone Inn, Little Falls. Cited for allowing patrons to sit at the bar, and exceeding occupancy limits on two separate occasions. Penalty sought: 40-day suspension.
• George Street Ale House, New Brunswick. Cited for allowing patrons to sit at the bar, and failing to enforce social distancing and face covering requirements. Penalty sought: 25-day suspension.
• Black Betty’s Saloon, Sayreville. Cited for allowing patrons to sit at the bar, and failing to enforce social distancing and face covering requirements. Also cited for allowing lewd activity on premises. Penalty sought: 70-day suspension.
• 30 Strikes, Cited for violating 10 p.m. curfew. Penalty sought: 10-day suspension.
• Jalapenos Bar and Grill, Gloucester City. Cited for allowing patrons to sit at the bar, and failing to enforce face covering requirements (second offense). Penalty sought: 20-day suspension.
• 814 South Pub & Kitchen, Somerdale. Cited for violating 10 p.m. curfew, failing to maintain a six-foot distance between tables, and failing to enforce face covering requirements. Penalty sought: 25-day suspension.
• B&B Saloon, Atlantic City. Cited for allowing patrons to sit at the bar, exceeding occupancy limits, and failing to enforce social distancing and face covering requirements. Also cited for allowing alcohol to be consumed beyond the licensed premises, hindering an inspection, employing a criminally disqualified individual, and violating conditions imposed on the license after a shooting left two people dead last month. Penalty sought: 115-day suspension.
“The overwhelming amount of restaurants and bars, and… gyms, theaters [and] indoor entertainment, are doing the right thing, and so by inference, I want to give them a shoutout,” Murphy said. “But I want to also make folks know that there are folks who are not doing the right things, and that they need to know that.”
“Let these charges send a perfectly clear signal to any bar or restaurant owner who thinks that the rules don’t apply to them,” he added. “This will happen to you.”
New Jersey on Friday reported 3,821 new positive COVID-19 test results, pushing its case total to 390,256, Murphy said at the briefing.
As of Thursday night, 3,571 New Jerseyans were hospitalized with confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases, 687 of whom were in intensive care and 421 of whom were on ventilators.
The state also reported 55 new COVID-19-related fatalities, bringing its death toll to 15,794. Twenty-seven of the people who died passed away within the past three days, the governor noted.
“Just because a vaccine is right on the horizon doesn’t mean we can start to let our guard down,” he said. “There is no light switch. We have to get through this winter. We cannot give up.”