What's really behind the bar at Brooklyn watering holes? Hopefully you'll never find out, but the Brooklyn Paper reports on some of the makeshift security systems barkeeps keep hidden from their patrons.
The 4th Avenue pub in Park Slope, for instance, keeps it real with an old wooden baseball bat hidden just incase things get out of hand. Barkeep Kevin Buckley told the paper, “It’s more to intimidate than anything else. I’ve used it to scare people who are trying to push their way in after we’ve closed.” Other devices around the borough include mace, decorative swords(!) and don't forget about plastic buckets.
Allegedly the fear was put in to the establishments after a series of holdups at Red Hook bars in 2007, but the idea isn't a new one. The paper recalls the story "of a 1970s Fifth Avenue tavern that kept a golf bag behind the bar stuffed with a driver — and a shotgun."
On that note: don't forget to tip your bartender!
