Bear Brew Pub still operating under conditional agreement

ORONO – The owner of the Bear Brew Pub, a local restaurant and bar, continues to work with state health inspectors to bring his establishment up to par after being ordered to close immediately on Friday afternoon because of significant health and safety violations.

Late Friday afternoon, however, pub owner Matt Haskell signed a 30-day conditional agreement with state Department of Health and Human Services officials that allowed him to open Friday evening.

The pub was continuing Monday to operate under the agreement.

The conditions state that the only food Haskell is allowed to serve is pizza, but the Bear Brew’s liquor license also was reinstated for the term of the conditional agreement, and a full bar is available.

“The department will continue to work with [Haskell] this week to ensure that the owners of the pub continue to do as they say they will,” Lynn Kippax, DHHS director of public and media communications, said Monday.

Haskell said Monday that he’s continuing to work on renovating the downstairs of the three-story building, “so that when we open, as I said before, we’ll be better than ever.”

The Bear Brew’s state license to serve food expired Jan. 27, 2004, and hasn’t been renewed by the pub, according to Kippax. In addition, the business is $450 behind in paying state licensing fees, he said.

Violations included:

. Improper or lack of hand-washing sinks in food preparation areas.

. Leaks in the plumbing in the second and third floor bar areas, as well as the pizza preparation area, making them “wet and dirty,” according to the inspector’s report.

. The walk-in refrigerator was reported to have been kept at 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

There also was the fact that the business has been expanded to seat 300 from the original 30 for which it was licensed back in 2004.

DHHS inspectors allowed Haskell to reopen Friday after the refrigerator had been repaired, the pizza preparation area was sanitized, and an alternative hand-washing station was approved for the short term.

State officials will continue to monitor operations and improvements at the Bear Brew Pub throughout the week, Kippax said.