From Left: Nic Ratner and Geoff Popler
Nic Ratner hates televisions in bars. So much so, in fact, he’s banned them from the three he runs along Second Avenue.
“If there was a television in here right now, even with the sound off, I could be talking with the most beautiful, intelligent, funny girl and a damn ShamWow commercial could come on and I’d be staring at it instead of her, no matter what,” proselytizes Ratner, standing in Shoolbred’s, the Scottish-themed bar where he’s an “honorary partner” (“hiring and firing powers, but I don’t make any money” ), with owner and business associate Robert Morgan. Together the two also own Ninth Ward, Kingston Hall (together with Steve Pyke and Geoff Popler) and a soon to be opened spot on Farringdon Road in London.
