West Village Bar Offers Beer And Free Q-Tip Up Your Nose

WEST VILLAGE, NY — It is a new type of drink special. A West Village bar is offering and requiring two free COVID-19 tests to come inside the watering hole for a beer or a cocktail.

Henrietta Hudson, one of New York City's longest-running lesbian bars, has been offering PCR and rapid antigen tests just outside its doors on 438 Hudson Street.

The pub's walk-in clinic is open to all, not just the patrons who want to pair their nasal swab with a stiff drink.

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As of Wednesday, just under 400 people had been tested at the new clinic, which is open from 6 p.m. to midnight on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, reported the NY Post.

Henrietta Hudson partnered with City Testing Services, which provides the COVID tests to the bar free of charge.

But the West Village bar handles all other matters of operations, including staff members becoming certified test givers and administering the swabs themselves, according to the NY Post.

"With Omicron, I knew I had to do something more,” Henrietta’s owner Lisa Cannistraci told Curbed. “This was a good way to stay open safely. Plus who doesn’t want to go and get tested and have a drink while they’re waiting?”

Patrons can sit outside and have a drink while they're waiting for their rapid test and head inside once it comes back negative.

Henrietta Hudson is a "queer human space built by lesbians" that first opened in 1991.

"Henrietta Hudson has not only survived but thrived for 30 years and is embarking upon a massive reinvention of its legendary space," reads a description on Henrietta's website."It will be a while before packed dance clubs are back in full swing, so we're adapting and changing our model from a crowded nightclub to a spacious, airy lounge for the community to gather safely."