Claiming to be Brooklyn’s oldest bar, running for 139 years and reported to have been a hangout for Al Capone way back in the day, the N.Y. Post reports that P.J. Hanley’s, at Court and 4th Place, has filed for bankruptcy and will close by the end of the week.
The owner, James McGown, claims that the owners of the property want to increase the rent they are collecting, which he told the Post is $6,000 a month. Landlords up and down Court Street are eyeing ever-increasing rents, with reports that empty storefronts such as the former pet shop near Trader Joe’s posting asking prices of $15,000 per month.
The pub is said to have opened in 1874, and is still owned by heirs of the original owner.Â
McGown also owns South Brooklyn Pizza, next door to P.J. Hanley’s, as well as a popular South Brooklyn Pizza in the East Village of Manhattan, as well as Buschenshank german pub on Court at Sackett Street. The Post reports that South Brooklyn Pizza in the city filed for bankruptcy last year but is still operating.Â
