The Industry Public House Restaurant in Lawrenceville voluntarily closed Wednesday after an Allegheny County Health Department inspection found food being stored and prepared in the same area where plumbers were currently working on an exposed sewer line.
The restaurant is currently having a sewer line repaired, health department officials said in an inspection report.
“The ice in the ice machine in the basement and the potatoes on the wire shelf near the ice machine are in the area where plumbers are working and exposed to possible contamination,” the report reads.
The report added that bacon and roast beef were being prepared in proximity to the sewer repair work, and sewage was present on the floor in front of the restaurant’s beer cooler from plumbers pumping sewage out of the affected area.
The restaurant does not currently have a functioning sewage line, according to the report, and as such is not permitted to use its water supply or generate wastewater. The report also notes that restaurant staff failed to notify the department of “an imminent hazard of a sewage backup in the food facility.”
The health department prepared a corrective action plan, and a follow-up inspection is pending, although the report from Wednesday does not include a specific date.
It comes on the heels of a November 2023 inspection report for the restaurant that outlined eight low-risk health violations such as restroom trash cans without lids and a lack of soap and paper towels at the sink of an upstairs bar.
