A Manhattan judge urged West Village residents who are suing to prevent storied former speakeasy Chumley’s from reopening to settle their differences out of court — after hinting the neighbors would likely lose the case.
Justice Barbara Jaffe said the 47 plaintiffs who live near Chumley’s at 86 Bedford St. face a “very high standard” of proving that the State Liquor Authority’s decision to award the pub a new license was “arbitrary and capricious.”
The neighbors claim Prohibition-era Chumley’s drew a rowdy crowd before it closed for repairs in 2007.
But Chumley’s attorney Bill Poppe said the “bar is really an institution.”