Once Exclusive Charles To Become a Sports Bar

NIMBY's often say they are reluctant to recommend liquor licenses for new spaces over a fear that the restaurant concept will fail and be replaced by some terrible sports bar, thus ruining their quaint block forever. Non-NIMBY's shake their heads in disbelief, wondering how any rationale person could make the leap from restaurant liquor license application to future sports bar. Well, this is how.

After the once exclusive but ultimately unsuccessful Charles went bust this summer, a rumor began to circulate that the space would be turned into a sports bar. Unfortunately for West 4th Street, the rumor is now true. A tipster told Eater that Charles has been completely gutted and was on its way to sports bar glory. A second tipster happened by the space and got photo confirmation of the guttage, reporting that there were already seven flat screen TV's installed in the space.

How does Tiger Woods fit into this plan? Loosely. One of the new owners of the former Charles space is Ben Griff, a gentleman who also was intimate with one Rachel Uchitel, Tiger's number one mistress, hence the Tiger Woods connection.

The shame of it is that the former Le Deux Gamins space was really amazing. Stepping back into the time machine, we had the opportunity to visit the space just before the Charles team began to demo everything. The space was full of distressed leather banquettes, a classic tin ceiling, and an abundance of natural light pouring through the wrap around windows, looking like Roman and Williams had already re-designed the restaurant. All the space needed was a touch of paint, a new bar and a quality game plan for the menu, which we recommended at the time. The owners went in another direction, and now it's on its way to sports bar glory.
· Charles Coverage [~ENY~]
· Nightlife Coverage [~ENY~]