Sad news for geeks, nerds, and other fans of bar/restaurants whose names are Douglas Adams references: 42 Ale House in St. Francis, 3807 S. Packard Ave., has announced it will close at the end of February. In a Facebook post, ownership explains that “our current lease wraps up at the end of the month, and after extensive discussion about where we are at in our lifecycle, and future plans for the building, we have decided not to renew our lease.”
42 Ale House opened in 2015 in the former site of Attebury’s and UBeer. Originally a companion bar to the similarly geek-friendly 42 Lounge (which opened in Downtown Milwaukee in 2013), the Ale House later split off and went it alone. In 2018, 42 Lounge left its downtown home and became part of Oak & Shield Gaming Pub.
The Facebook post explains that the official last day for 42 Ale House will be “whenever we run out of product, or enough staff has secured other positions and moved on.” Here’s the full post. As Deep Thought would say, we don’t think you’re going to like it.
Today we are announcing that after 5 years at our current location, the journey of 42 Ale House is coming to an end. Our current lease wraps up at the end of the month, and after extensive discussion about where we are at in our lifecycle, and future plans for the building, we have decided not to renew our lease.
It’s been a great 5 years for 42 Ale House, and 7 years for the “42” brand. Despite the split with 42 Lounge in 2016 we continued to serve the geek community — while softening our focus and trying to become a “geek-lite” bar/restaurant that was welcoming to a much wider variety of people and interests, yet true to our geek/nerd heritage. Looking at the number or similar bars/restaurants, and events, throughout the Milwaukee area that exist now, but did not at the point we first opened our doors, we would consider our mission to be a resounding success.
We would like to sincerely thank all of our patrons and staff that we have known since the beginning, or met along the way — you have made the past 5 years memorable in ways we will never forget, and we will miss you dearly — from birthdays, to promotions, to graduations and daily conversation; you have made it a joy, and a privilege, to come in to work every day.
We will remain open, winding down as the month continues. We will try to post about the last day but it’s going to be whenever we run out of product, or enough staff has secured other positions and moved on. Gift cards will be honored while we remain open — please use them as soon as possible.
Again, we cannot express enough how grateful we are to have met each and every one of you, and hope you will stop by one last time to reminisce and have a pint.
Cheers,
Tony & Krissie