BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The classic Boerum Hill
watering hole Brooklyn Inn
reopened for business on Saturday
for the fi rst time since
shutting down eight months
ago due to COVID-19, according
to the 169-year-old taproom’s
manager.
“This is defi nitely a peculiar
chapter in the bar’s history,”
said Jason Furlani.
“We’ve never done table service
before.”
The bar dates back to 1851,
nearly 50 years before the
great city of Brooklyn became
one of New York City’s fi ve
boroughs, according to Kings
County historian John B.
Manbeck — and the storefront
at Bergen and Hoyt streets is
said to be the borough’s oldest
still-operating saloon.
The Victorian-era business
— which survived the 1918
Spanish fl u, the Great Depression,
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and the city’s 1970s fi scal
crisis — is known throughout
the area for its carved-wood
interiors and no-frills service,
and has become a staple for
generations of buzzed Brooklynites
looking for a relaxed
place to knock back drinks.
Now, Furlani, who took
over the bar’s management in
2007, will dish up hotdogs and
potato chips for $2 to comply
with the state’s pandemic regulations,
allowing businesses
to only serve alcohol to seated
patrons who are ordering and
eating food.
“It’s an entirely new animal,”
said Furlani. “We want
to keep consistent with who
we are. We wanted to keep it
simple.”
Eagle-eyed Brooklyn Paper
reporter Ben Verde spotted
workers setting up outdoor
seating in empty parking
spots along the old-school
bar’s Bergen Street side on
Oct. 11, and Furlani said he
offi cially started serving ales
again this past weekend without
too much fanfare.
“We purposefully didn’t
want to announce it,” he said.
“We wanted a soft open.”
The bar will also allow indoor
dining at quarter-capacity
and Furlani has removed bar
stools to create more space.
The manager also set up an
online fundraiser at the beginning
of the pandemic to support
his 14-member staff at the Inn
and his two bars in Manhattan
— the Magician and Tile Bar —
where he raised $19,000.
He was able to retain all of
his Brooklyn Inn staff, but several
workers on the Distant Isle
have since left, and he said he’s
still looking to fi nd people before
Jason Furlani outside the recently-reopened Brooklyn Inn on Bergen and
Hoyt streets. Photo by Kevin Duggan
he can reopen those pubs.
While many area businesses
shuttered during the
viral outbreak, such as nearby
Building on Bond, Furlani
said the Inn was able to survive
because the business
owner, Benjamin Atkins, also
owns the building.
The manager said that
while the future remains uncertain,
seeing his Boerum
Hill staple reopen and bring
back locals has given him
hope.
“It’s harder, it’s different,
it’s weird, but everyone’s in
the same boat. Everyone’s just
trying to keep it going,” so
Furlani. “I think what’s most
important is as I was there on
the weekend and seeing people
from the community how
grateful they were about us
being back open. Nothing else
really matters.”
BACK INN BIZ
169-year-old Boerum Hill bar
reopens with COVID restrictions
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