Whole Foods asks judge to close rooftop bar

Whole Foods is starting a disco inferno. 

The supermarket claims the line to get into the bar at a hotel next door run by legendary club impresario Ian Schrager is blocking their food delivery trucks from getting into their loading bay, according to a new lawsuit. 

Their legal papers include photos of dressed-up club-hoppers hoping to get inside the bar at the Public Hotel that is so massive it is almost reminiscent of the throngs that gathered outside Schrager’s most famous venue — the 1970s hot spot, Studio 54.

The issue has gotten so bad that workers at the trendy food store on Christie Street say that wanna be patrons at the even trendier bar are making their life hell when they try to take deliveries of their high-end fare.

“We tell the security guards to tell people to make room for us, to let us get through with the pallets, but it’s a problem,” a Whole Foods employee said. 

“The people are drunk. They don’t understand. Sometimes they start fights with us. They push us. They start cursing… They tell us: ‘who the hell do you think you are?’”

Drivers have documented “near-misses’ accidents,” and the emergency exit is so mobbed by clubbers that it “could result in a [sic] epic tragedy,” the suit claims.

Deliveries that took 30 minutes, now last over two hours, ticking-off vendors who threaten their own legal action due to spoilage losses, the suit states.

The hotel’s line is “a mass of people completely obstructing the sidewalk and driveway,” according to Whole Foods’ lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, which also demands a $400,000 payoff.

The hotel hit back with their own suit on Wednesday, seeking a judicial order to block Whole Foods “from continuing to stop, park and double park its trucks” near their property.

One argument made in response to the original suit was that Whole Food didn’t have a grasp on the situation, as the crowds seen in pictures filed by their lawyers in court papers weren’t for the bar, but for another club in the hotel, called ARTSPACE.

An attorney for the hotel said they want to work the situation out.

“We are looking to resolve this as good neighbors,” said attorney Y. David Sharf, who represents the hotel.

Sharf says that the judge declined to sign off on the restraining order Friday, giving the feuding neighbors a week to come up with a plan.

At the hotel’s bar Thursday night the scene was no madhouse — as ARTHOUSE was closed.

Nevertheless, patrons who were heading into the Public Hotel’s bar for a cocktail said that on nights the basement nightclub is open the long lines were a familiar sight that wrapped down the street.

“That line gets out of control,” said Cassidy Bundy, 28, a longtime Public Hotel patron. 

“People don’t move. They don’t care. The late-night shipment will come in and people don’t move. The crowd doesn’t move. The sidewalk is blocked.” 

Doug Robinson — who failed to get into the Public’s bar Thursday because his “crypto millionaire” pal was wearing shorts — told The Post he’s seen issues with the line blocking the store “multiple times.”

“People block Whole Foods’s ability to execute their plan at a high level.” Robinson said.

“The guys that are pulling stuff off their trucks are constantly having to stop their s–t to deal with all the patrons.”

“The hotel should be creating a lane. That’s a start.”

Lucy Gaffnerboro, 19, said that the situation was “unfortunate,” but that “the hotel is a business that also deserves to run.”

A FDNY worker, who declined to offer his name, said that the “drunk” line is worst on Friday and Saturday nights until 1 a.m.

“I think they do most deliveries later at night but it’s still an issue… There are accidents waiting to happen,” the first responder said. “Especially when they bring out the forklifts.”   

Whole Foods, whose lawyer did not respond to a request for comment, ultimately wants the hotel to relocate the line towards Stanton Street, past the residents who complained of copious copulation years ago.

“If the line went that way,” said the FDNY worker, “it would be much more manageable.”

It’s not the first time the 376-room hotel has angered neighbors.

When it first opened in 2017, low-income tenants next door complained that exhibitionist hotel guests declined to draw their curtains, forcing them to watch full-frontal fornication, according to DNAinfo.