Tattoo Bar Closed By Health Department For 'Inking And Drinking'

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- Never mix, never worry. Brooklyn's first tattoo parlor and bar was shuttered by health inspectors who found an "inking and drinking" workshop happening inside, city records show.

Forever Ink Bar at 1051 Flatbush Ave. was shut down Thursday when Health Department inspectors found toxic chemicals near food and improperly constructed counters being washed with clothes that were not sanitized, city records show.

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Co-owner Rick Rivera told Patch that health inspectors objected to a weekly "inking and drinking" workshop where patrons can learn how to tattoo in the bar.

"Everything is fixed already," said Rivera, who noted FIB Tattoo Bar, Brooklyn's first ever tattoo parlor and bar, is open again for business.

Rivera added that the health inspection would not deter FIB from hosting future drink-and-ink events, just not in the bar itself.

"We might do it downstairs," he said. "We're still working on it."

A customer gets a tattoo on her arm at the 21st International Tattoo Convention Berlin on December 3, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images)