Popular gay bar forced to close following fire
The Eagle Bar suffered extensive damage when a fire broke out on the weekend.
Several customers and employees were inside The Eagle Bar in Houston, Texas when a fire broke out on Saturday (January 2) afternoon – but luckily, all were able to escape.
Firefighters say the fire took several hours to put out, after causing serious damage to the second and third floors of the building in which the bar operates from.
The venue – which is housed on the first floor – suffered extensive water and smoke damage.
The venue’s owner said that the fire could not have come at a worse time, as he recently spent over half a million dollars had recently been spent on the venue.
“We’ve got the entire sprinkler system, or the majority of the sprinkler system in,” Jay Allen told KHOU.
“We were just waiting for city approval for the water sewer tap and they’ve got all the paperwork and it should have been done already.”
However, he said that he plans to rebuild the venue regardless of the cost, before praising his staff for their support.
“Fortunately, they are kind of a big family and I wouldn’t be surprised to see every last one of them out here on Monday morning scrubbing and cleaning to get this place back together again.”
A posting on The Eagle’s official Facebook page says that ‘Eagle Parties’ will take place at another venue every weekend until the bar is rebuilt.
Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire.
