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Bar owner Pat Hughes is facing a “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”. After handing back the keys to Lansdowne Road at the start of the pandemic, he’s now decided to exit his two remaining bars — Scruffy Duffy’s and Hellcat Annie’s Taproom. He’s just looking for someone with Bitcoins (or Ethereum tokens) burning their pocket.
His asking price is 25 Bitcoins or 800 Ethereum tokens to take both the bars off his hands — that’s around $875,000 by today’s conversion rate.
“I’m not aware of any other bars or restaurants that have been sold for crypto only,” Charles Cascarilla, Paxos Trust Company, told the New York Post. “But more and more people look at crypto as a monetary instrument. We’re really at a tipping point of its acceptance.”
Pat’s kept himself busy during the pandemic with golf and attempts at reopening. He’s also put his creative skills and sense of humor to work. He found international fame when he boarded up Hellcat Annie’s in June with a message of “F.U. Virus” and “We Will Be Back”.
He’s known locally for his publicity stunts and inventive marketing ideas. In the past, he introduced “Wage Gap Wednesday” at one of his bars — when all tabs paid by women were given 21% off. Scruffy Duffy’s (which was his original bar when it was based on 8th Avenue) ran very popular musical bingo nights — Singo — before the pandemic.
The bars are open again now, with an attractive wood cabin shared by both bars proving popular with Hell’s Kitchen locals for outdoor dining.
Is this a stunt? “Hell no! I’m heading south with the family and finding a nice place near a golf course.”