St. Paul's East Side Bar closes after two-and-a-half years in business
East Side Bar, located in a historic building in St. Paul’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood, is closing its doors after two and a half years.
Owner Eric Foster took to Facebook Thursday to announce that the bar would close on Dec. 23.
“We appreciate all the nice messages that people have sent. We appreciate all of our customers for your support over the last two and a half years,” Foster said in a Facebook video.
“But life goes on over the next few weeks. We’re going to try to drink through as much of our beer and booze and other stuff as we can and have some great food and great times with customers and our great staff and make the most of it.”
During the last weeks of business, East Side Bar will serve new beers on tap, Foster said.
Foster opened the bar in the former Ward 6 space just as the COVID-19 pandemic closed bars and restaurants for multiple months and limited their operations for even longer. He told the Pioneer Press that the bar opened “the day before everything shut down” in 2020.
The bar is located in a building that has stood in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood since 1885, according to East Side Bar’s website. It operated as Hamm’s brewery and a residential building before a community member helped restore the space in the 2000s.
The bar offers brunch, lunch and dinner menus, as well as a variety of cocktails, beer, wine, warm drinks and alcoholic milkshakes.
