State pulls Spa bar license
Liquor Authority points to violence at Gaffney’s
One day after the nightclub and bar Gaffney’s was ordered closed by the city of Saratoga Springs after months of violent incidents including a stabbing early Sunday inside the bar, the State Liquor Authority suspended Gaffney’s license to sell alcohol.
Voting unanimously at a meeting called specifically to address the Gaffney’s matter, the SLA’S three-member board suspended the liquor license effective immediately. In a presentation to the board, SLA attorney William Brennan, citing reports from Saratoga Springs police, said that, including Sunday’s incident, there have been three stabbings at Gaffey’s since October, as well as a “huge melee” in March in which three police officers were injured, requiring medical attention. Saratoga police recorded 65 reports of officers responding to publicsafety matters at Gaffney’s from January 2021 to March of this year, Brennan told the board.
Calling Gaffney’s a threat to public safety, SLA Chairman Vincent Bradley said, “That threat is clearly increasing over time.”
Gaffney’s is entitled to a hearing to determine the status of its liquor license as a result of the suspension. The board could take disciplinary action from a monetary
fine to cancellation of the license.
Gaffney’s, the operating name for a company called Saratoga Hospitality at Gaffney’s, has had its liquor license under the current operators since 2017.
It was already scheduled for an SLA hearing on Thursday, postponed at Gaffney’s request from an earlier date, but the bar’s attorney on Monday asked for another postponement of the hearing, the SLA board was told. Unlike at a hearing, Gaffney’s is not entitled to address the board during an emergency meeting like Tuesday’s.
Monday’s order by the city of Saratoga Springs for Gaffney’s to cease operations was based on two checks, for a fire inspection and for its restaurant license, written to the city that bounced,
according to Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino.
As a result, Montagnino said, the business lacks the proper permits to be open to the public.
Gaffney’s general manager, Justin Manfro, told the Times Union on Monday
that his bookkeeper said both checks cleared and were paid in March.
“We are reviewing the ruling and will have more to say in response tomorrow,” Gaffney’s Saratoga said in statement in response to the SLA’S Tuesday decision.