Bar shut down for failure to pay drink tax

The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office closed Pittsburgh Cafe on Wednesday following an order…

Allegheny County Sheriff’s Department posted signs notifying Pittsburgh Cafe’s closure.

Zach Schaffer | Staff Photographer

The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office closed Pittsburgh Cafe on Wednesday following an order from the county.

The Meyran Avenue bar, popular with Oakland students, had not paid the Allegheny County Alcoholic Beverage Tax since the law took effect in January 2008. After a complaint was filed against the bar in March 2009, the bar was ordered in November of the same year to pay the county $12,365.04, according to Sgt. Richard Fersch of the sheriff’s office’s civil and real estate divisions.

Fersch said that as of the closure, the bar still owed that full amount, which includes court-ordered fines and penalties. The ownership of Pittsburgh Cafe has until Oct. 23 of this year to pay the sum in full or to work out a payment schedule with the county.

If it does not meet the deadline, the bar, along with its liquor license, will be up for sale that same day.

Fersch added that the sheriff’s office was ordered to close other bars in Allegheny County yesterday in connection with delinquency in regard to the beverage tax. He remarked that the county waited several years before ordering law enforcement to take action against the bar.

“The county was more than amicable in allowing [Pittsburgh Cafe] ample time to pay what they owed,” Fersch said.

As of 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, the bar remained closed and unoccupied. Multiple neon orange signs announced that the bar had been closed because of a failure to pay the county tax.

Pittsburgh Cafe’s owners were unable to be reached after multiple calls for comment.