Neir’s Tavern owner Loycent Gordon should be removed: lawsuit

According to a lawsuit, the savior of one of the oldest pubs in the city, which served as the backdrop for a scene in the mafia classic “Goodfellas” in 1990, will be 86 before he opens the books to his co-partner.

Andrew Bigan, 65, claims Loycent Gordon, who has run the day-to-day operations of Neir’s Tavern in Woodhaven for years and spearheaded efforts to save the pub in Queens, put him out of business. The bar opened in 1829.

Bigan, a real estate agent, became a 25% shareholder of Neir’s in 2009 along with his wife Melanie, who ran Neir’s for a number of years before resigning in 2012 when she was diagnosed with cancer. She died in 2015.

Gordon took a 75% stake in Neir’s around this time, bought out two other shareholders and ran the business.

Annie Wermiel/NY Post

Annie Wermiel/NY Post

Annie Wermiel

But despite guiding Neir through tough times, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Gordon wanted out of the business in 2019, according to Bigan’s lawsuit in Manhattan Superior Court.

Gordon reportedly complained that he was “always in the red” and “never could make enough money,” and asked Bigan to help him find someone to take over Neir’s, according to the legal papers.

The following year, without warning, Gordon announced that Neir’s was closing — prompting public outcry and an $80,000 grant from the city to the rescue, Bigan claims.

The bar was ultimately saved, but Gordon then allegedly ignored Bigan’s calls and texts and banned him from the bar’s social media accounts, accusing Bigan in court filings.

“He just wants to know what’s going on and also want compensation because he never relinquished his status as a shareholder,” Bigan’s attorney Susan Warnock said. “He’s offered his help over the years and it’s kind of been turned down.”

Gordon should be removed from the bar’s day-to-day operations and run by a neutral third party, said Bigan, who said he hasn’t paid anything since Gordon’s acquisition and wants a judge to order an accounting of the deal.

Gordon denied the allegations.

“My mission since 2009 has been and continues to be to keep the historic Neir’s Tavern open and sustainable before, during and after the pandemic,” he said in a statement, calling the bar “an affair of the heart.”

“Neir’s is an integral part of the Woodhaven community and we are grateful to everyone who has supported us in Queens and beyond… I am deeply saddened that someone is making an apparent attempt for their own benefit that could jeopardize the future of Neir’s Tavern . We intend to vigorously defend Neir’s against these allegations.”