Longtime Atlanta bar Bookhouse Pub is set to close by the end of the year.
The closure was made official in a post on Bookhouse’s Instagram account. Though a specific closing date hasn’t been decided, the business will shutter “definitively by Jan. 1,” according to the post.
In August 2023, the bar’s owners confirmed via an Instagram post that Bookhouse had been sold, but that the restaurant would stay open for two more years.
Bookhouse Pub opened in 2008 at 736 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE, a few doors down from nightclubs MJQ Concourse and Drunken Unicorn in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood.
The pub takes its name from the meeting place of a fictional secret society, the Bookhouse Boys, featured in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” television series. In keeping with the inspiration for the bar, the decor features stone, timbers and glass windows with Northwestern totems, and the interior evokes a log cabin vibe, complete with stocked bookshelves and a small hearth. Bookhouse also has a subtle tiki ethos, with a tiki pole and tiki-inspired cocktails.
The current iteration of the Bookhouse menu includes comfort foods like chicken wings, poutine, burgers and fried chicken, as well as several vegetarian options and more than a dozen beers on tap. The bar has also hosted several local pop-ups over the past few years.
The stretch of Ponce de Leon between Barnett Street and Glen Iris Drive has undergone several notable changes over the years, starting with the opening of sprawling mixed-use development Ponce City Market in 2014, and the future of several businesses along the street remain in question.
Atlanta developer Portman had struck a deal in 2022 to purchase blocks of dive bars and nightclubs, including MJQ and Drunken Unicorn, to transform into three glitzy buildings. The vision included more than 350 apartments, roughly 38,000 square feet of new retail space and 470,000 square feet of office space.
During that time, the owners of MJQ and Drunken Unicorn announced plans to move to the Underground Atlanta development by the end of 2023, but the businesses remain open on Ponce and the status of the move is unknown.
In 2023, the owners of longtime Atlanta bar the Local announced the business would remain open after initially announcing plans to close by the end of the year.
The about-face came after local developer Portman Holdings decided to rethink its development plans for the stretch of Ponce de Leon Avenue near the Beltline in response to current financial headwinds.
The owners of Bookhouse Pub and MJQ and Drunken Unicorn did not immediately respond to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s request for more information.
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