Plug Uglies

Plug Uglies took its name from one of the notorious gangs of 1800s New York, and it quickly became known as a hangout for the city's Bravest and Finest^{1, 2}. Brian Stapleton, a firefighter at the time, opened it in 1997 with his father, Mike, after Mike retired from the police force^{1, 2}. The first one was at 257 Third Avenue, around the corner from the 13th Precinct station house^{1, 2}.

It stayed until 2015, when its building became one of five, 253 to 261 Third Avenue, slated for demolition to make way for a new development^{1, 2}. At the end of October 2015 the bar moved a bottle's throw across the street, into the former Exchange bar at 256 Third Avenue². The development became 200 East 21st Street, a 21-story, 67-unit condominium completed in 2018, whose addresses include 257 Third Avenue³.

Across the street it was big on comfort food like roast beef sandwiches, and on shuffleboard, with 10 screens^{4, 5}. In 2022 the owners, Stapleton and Dieter Seelig, opened a second Plug Uglies on the Upper East Side, at 1495 First Avenue and 78th Street, in what had been Bar Coastal^{1, 4, 5}.

Then a high-rise came for the new place too: the 256 Third Avenue bar closed for construction of a new high-rise building, and on June 8, 2024, Plug Uglies reopened at 295 Third Avenue, between 22nd and 23rd streets^{1, 6}. The new room has 125-year-old pine seating and bar top, 15 televisions for sports, and what it calls New York's longest free shuffleboard table¹. In August 2026 the owners were planning yet another bar, in the longtime Third Avenue Ale House space at East 92nd Street⁷.