The popular gay sports bar Boxers has scored a liquor license and will now unveil a three-level, 275-person watering hole at 742 Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, DNAinfo reported. The new location is just blocks away from the 766 10th Avenue site it had attempted to lease last year near the playground of P.S. 111, causing a drawn-out fight with neighbors displeased with the influx of nightlife into the area. The bar was eventually denied a liquor license in February by the State Liquor Authority.
However, the new Ninth Avenue spot has stirred far less controversy within Community Board 4 or with Hell’s Kitchen residents. “We really meant it when we said that Boxers was more than welcome in the neighborhood, just not in the schoolyard,” Leslie Nipkow, a former opponent of the bar, said. “We hope it works out!” [DNAinfo] – Christopher Cameron