Jason Spratt, owner of the Jar Bar. Photo: Shane O’Brien
Nov. 26, 2024 By Shane O’Brien
A Sunnyside resident has launched an online fundraiser in aid of Jar Bar owner Jason Spratt, who suffered extensive head injuries during a violent robbery in Sunnyside at the end of September.
Spratt, who has owned Jar Bar at 45-06 48th Ave. for the past 10 years, was left in a coma for four days after being attacked by three men on 48th Avenue on Sept. 29.
Spratt told the Sunnyside Post in October that he was carrying $17,500 in a concealed bag at the time of the attack, stating that one of the men hit him in the back of the head with what he believes was a garden hoe, causing him to fall to the ground.
He said the men made off with the money he was carrying after relentlessly kicking him in the head.
Meanwhile, a separate break-in at Jar Bar on Oct. 3 saw an estimated $13,000 stolen from the bar, taking the bar’s total losses to around $30,000 in under a week.
“I got hit twice in the same week,” Spratt told the Sunnyside Post last month. “I don’t have $30,000. I’m running a small business over here, and it’s a real kick in the teeth.”
The Sept. 29 incident also left Spratt with lasting injuries. He said he underwent several MRIs and CT scans following the attack, with doctors informing him that he had bleeding on three different parts of his brain.
Jason Ramos, who launched a GoFundMe to “Keep the Jar Bar Alive” on Spratt’s behalf, said Spratt has been “touch and go” on several occasions over the past two months, stating that he suffered cranial fractures, brain swelling and intermittent loss of motor function as a result of the attack.
However, Ramos said Spratt was becoming “his Jason self” after a “scary” few weeks, although he noted that the bar had struggled financially after the two robberies.
“Patronage is back, but inventory is scarce and rent is behind due to the loss as well as Jason being unable to manage for weeks on end,” Ramos said.
Ramos, who has lived in Sunnyside for 30 years, said he was inspired to help the Jar Bar because he didn’t want a neighborhood staple to go out of business.
“I don’t want the bar to fail,” Ramos said. “I take a lot of pride in many of the local mom-and-pop businesses that make up Sunnyside.”
Speaking to the Sunnyside Post last month, Spratt noted that the Jar Bar first opened in 1927 and said it was one of the oldest continuously operating bars in the neighborhood.
“I’m the seventh owner, and I don’t want to be the guy to see it go to the wall,” Spratt said last month.
Ramos said he had fronted a new CCTV system for the bar, stating that the old system proved inadequate in assisting with the NYPD investigation into the Oct. 3 break-in.
“We actually recently caught someone breaking the front window of the place with a brick,” Ramos said. “So we were able to supply that footage to the cops, and we also believe that that person was involved in the original attack.”
The GoFundMe has raised over $4,500 since Ramos launched it last month. He hopes that it will recoup most of the money lost in the two incidents and secure the bar’s future.
Anyone wishing to support Jar Bar can stop by for a drink between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m. Monday through Friday and from 12 noon until 3 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
