[UPDATE] Maria's Team Wants To Open New Bar In Old Club Foot Space
By Melissa McEwen in Food on Aug 4, 2015 6:15PM
[UPDATE AND CORRECTION BELOW]Many were devastated when Club Foot, a beloved dive bar, closed last year. Now DNAinfo reports that the owners of Maria's Community Bar, the Marszewski brothers, have acquired the space and hope to open a bar selling craft beer and cocktails there. But they face stiff opposition from the local neighborhood group, The East Village Association, which wants Augusta Street to stay "residential" and does not support "commercial development" of the space.
The DNAinfo article also gives us an amazing new term we'd never heard before: "bro-hole." Club Foot's owner Lauree Rohrig says she's rooting for the Maria's team: "I would rather see him succeed there than another sports bar or bro-hole." We assume by bro-hole they mean the douchey bars that dominate Division.
The proposal is to open a place called "The Golden Arms" that would serve not only as a place to get a solid drink but also as a venue to host screenings and readings and performances. But to open they'll need a zoning change, and the lifting of the local tavern and packaged goods liquor moratorium Correction - they'll need the tavern license moratorium lifted so that they may change the existing tavern license. It mirrors the controversy around similar changes needed to open Forbidden Root, but that location was on Chicago Avenue, which is non-controversially a commercial street. But the landscape around the East Village is dotted with the remnants of taverns, a legacy of
hostile policy and economic changes. Some would like to see them come back, others not so much.
The Marszewski brothers are well respected for their stewardship of the local community in Bridgeport, with Maria's and their other businesses creating a vibrant local culture. If you are interested in having your voice heard in the matter, we encourage you to join and attend meetings at the East Village Association or other local neighborhood groups or get in touch with local Alderman Joe Moreno online or at one of his ward nights (every Tuesday from 4-7 p.m. at his office).