Bar owner denies COVID violation
BRIDGEPORT — When Marlon Pinnock, owner of Mango’z Sports Bar, learned late last week that his establishment was in trouble with the state for allegedly violating coronavirus regulations, he was stunned.
“We haven’t done anything in there for months,” Pinnock said in an interview Monday. “We had nothing to do with it whatsoever. ... The owner of the building got fined.”
Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration on New Year’s Eve announced that it had charged the owner of 456 Connecticut Ave. — the news release specified “the location of the Mango’z Sports Bar” — $10,000 for a Dec. 20 gathering that violated COVID-19 health rules and had no liquor permit.
A shooting that same night at Mango’z left two people dead and two others wounded.
Police said at the time of the shooting that the bar had been operating as a private club with people renting out the facility and bringing in their own liquor.
The paperwork Lamont released on New Year’s specifically named Robert Pierce, who, records show, operates the limited liability corporation that owns 456 Connecticut Ave. But the signs on the site identify it as Mango’z.
Pinnock said he never reopened after his sports bar, along with numerous other businesses, shut down in mid-March when the worldwide pandemic reached Connecticut and the public was urged to stay home for several weeks.
“That really crushed us,” Pinnock said. He could eventually have reopened over the summer because he served food — alcoholonly bars have been forced to remain closed during the health crisis — but said it was not economically viable: “We just couldn’t stay afloat anymore.”
But while Pinnock is no longer a tenant at 456 Conneticut Ave., Mango’z signs remained behind, resulting, he said, in all of the negative publicity over the past few days.
“We own the rights to that (the Mango’z brand) but the signage
belongs to the building,” Pinnock said. “So when he (Pierce) leased it to whoever took it over, they were supposed to remove our stuff.”
Pinnock lives in Bridgeport but was in Florida last week and said he received phone calls from friends and former customers “asking me, ‘What’s going on?’ They’re like, ‘You’ve been closed. How is someone operating Mango’z?’ ”
Pinnock said he is hoping to reopen at a new location early this year and “we’re just trying to clear our business name. Our brand is being ruined.”
Pierce could not be reached for comment and Pinnock said he did not have Pierce’s contact information.
“I haven’t spoken to him since we terminated the lease,” Pinnock said, adding he did not know who hosted the Dec. 20 gathering.
Pierce, according to the state Department of Public Health, has until Wednesday to appeal the $10,000 fine — the first levied since Lamont announced the steep penalty in late November to encourage business owners to follow COVID-19 guidelines aimed at stopping the illness’ spread.