Concrete Cowboy Bar In River North Permanently Shut Down In Wake Of Repeated Complaints
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The city has ordered the River North bar Concrete Cowboy to shut down permanently, in the wake of a longstanding history of noise violations, crowd control issues, and even violence.
"Today, Concrete Cowboy will close permanently due to legal action brought against them by the City of Chicago," a city Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection spokesman said in a statement. "The late hour location had a history of serious license violations, including violence perpetrated by staff and patrons, overcrowding, failure to control crowds and noise violations. The revocation order was issued this week by BACP and today the owners permanently surrendered their license."
CBS 2 reported on the problems at Concrete Cowboy, 646 N. Franklin St., back in February 2019.
"You can hear the music pumping even if you aren't inside the building," neighbor Darren Borowski said at the time.
"Screaming, yelling, typically fighting," said Courtney McHugh.
"Sirens and screaming regularly," said Nora Filet.
Some videos of fights that appeared to be right in front of the Concrete Cowboy could be found online.
Fights and police calls in part prompted the city's Department of Law to file a public nuisance case against the bar back at that time, detailing more than 50 incidents. It included accusations of everything from staff "committing battery without justification," to the bar allegedly failing "to maintain [its] late hour exterior safety plan." It also stated that employees failed to promptly notify police of fighting via 911.
"I moved in a couple months ago, and the very first night because it was so loud there were police sirens, there was screaming and a couple of arrests," Filet said in February 2019.
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) lives nearby, and in a letter last year wrote that he had witnessed "chronic late night traffic congestion, corresponding vehicular noise and noise created by patrons outside of the establishment."
