Duffy's Irish Pub, a neighborhood hangout beloved by Nationals fans, closed in November, swamped by debt. Over the weekend, former owner and namesake Andy Duffy announced that the bar is coming back to its building on Vermont Avenue NW, with a new owner and a target date of mid-September for a grand reopening.
At the same time, Duffy's launched an Indiegogo campaign that allows customers to pre-purchase beers and Duffy's award-winning wings, with a fundraising goal of $150,000. It raised almost $8,000 its first day, but Duffy says the final amount will not affect the bar's reopening. "We're going to open regardless of whether we hit that goal," Duffy says. "It would just make it easier. … We want to get the word out to regulars and get them through the doors again."
[Duffy's Irish Pub closes: 'It's been week-to-week, month-to-month.']
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I covered the litany of Duffy's financial problems back when the bar closed. Essentially, Duffy spent a year and a considerable amount of money working on the bar and paying rent while fighting the bar's neighbors over a liquor license, and then spent several more years operating under a series of restrictions that forced the bar to close and midnight and restricted the use of its front patio. Duffy took out a series of loans to keep the pub afloat, which he is still paying back.
"I know what people are saying, but when Duffy's closed, it's not like I just took off and didn't pay anyone. All my beer vendors and food vendors were all paid. I did owe a pretty hefty chunk of change to the landlord."
After Duffy's closed, Duffy moved to Florida, where he's been working in restaurants. Last month, he received a call from Casey Callister, a local independent film producer, and owner of Garden Thieves Pictures, who was interested in taking over the business and helping Duffy's reopen. Other people have approached him with similar plans in the past, Duffy says, but "backed off" when they got more into the financial details. Callister, on the other hand, "has been a customer from day one – he'd come in for a dozen wings and a beer."
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Duffy is keen to stress that he's only going to be the general manager of the "new" Duffy's, and not an owner. Callister has created a completely separate company to run the pub, and is not liable for the financial problems that bogged down the old bar. "The loans are still mine to deal with," Duffy says. "Casey's helping me out to pay those back, but it's not his responsibility, and it's not going to affect the business. I'm paying back the loans. It's not coming from the operating revenue from Duffy's."
The main hangup right now is the bar's liquor license. Duffy put the license in "safekeeping" when his bar closed last year, effectively deactivating it for an indeterminate amount of time. The Alcohol Beverage Control Board is on its summer recess, and returns Wednesday, Sept. 9. "We hope to have it in front of them then," Duffy says. It shouldn't be a big fight this time, because we're reactivating an existing license."
[Goodbye to Duffy’s, D.C.’s best Nats bar]
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If all goes well, Duffy says, the pub will be able to open shortly after the paperwork clears. "There's not a huge amount of work," he says, adding that he was sitting in Duffy's when we spoke earlier today. "A lot of the TVs and stuff are gone and need to be replaced. We're not going to change the place too much."
Irish beers and those outstanding wings will be back on the menu, with one additional focus: "Casey's a big fish and chips guy, so we're going to try to have the best fish and chips in D.C."
Duffy's Irish Pub, 2106 Vermont Ave. NW. www.twitter.com/Duffysirishpub.
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