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On Thursday, Oct. 29, local authorities shut down the Blue Horse in West Haven in the middle of service with patrons in the restaurant, said owner Bob Severino, according to the New Haven Register.
Bars are not permitted to be open under the current COVID-19 economic restrictions meant to help stop the spread of the virus. Restaurants are open and allowed to sell alcohol to customers, but people must also purchase food.
The closure comes just two weeks after the establishment was fined $500 for hosting a karaoke party on Oct. 1 that violated Connecticut's pandemic guidelines.
Owner Severino told the New Haven Register that he believes the health department has zeroed on his business due to increasing rates of COVID-19 at the University of New Haven, whose students patronize his establishment. He said that he intends to fight the $500 fine in court and that he was upset by the manner in which authorities allegedly announced the closure of his restaurant to patrons on Thursday, Oct. 29; by turning on the bright overhead lights at approximately 10 p.m. and telling them to leave.
Severino said that the health department employee who visited his establishment that night merely told him that there was "not enough food on the tables" without directly identifying a rule that was being broken.
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