Fly-Infested Abandoned Popeyes Reeks For Blocks

Brundlefly

Love that chicken? Maybe not so much. An East New York Popeyes that's been out of business for several weeks is filled with thousands of flies (dead and live), and the garbage they so love is spewing out around the restaurant itself, according to the Daily News. And, surprise surprise, no one wants to clean it up!

Staffers at the Strauss Discount Auto store next to the restaurant, located at 850 Pennsylvania Avenue, claim the fried chicken spot has been closed for about a month, although the end was "sudden." "It smells like a dead animal has been in there for a while," she told the News. Apparently the franchise's owner, New York Inner City Chicken, filed for bankruptcy a few weeks back and didn't bother to clean the joint out before pulling the plug. The building's owner, Pennsylvania Avenue Management LLC, had no idea that the Popeyes was even closed, or that the trash cans in front of the building and the Dumpsters in back were overflowing with garbage. It's a far cry from the conditions that earned the restaurant an "A" during a Health Department visit in January.

The fried chicken chain, which was founded in Louisiana (naturally), but named after Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection, has had a rough go of it in New York, what with cars creating impromptu drive-thrus in it and whatnot. The Health Department has said they will schedule a follow-up inspection of the Popeye's soon—better bring the gas masks.