Controversy-marred Berkeley sports bar Pappy’s closed permanently

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A sign outside of Pappy's in Berkeley, Calif.

 

The popular — and controversy-riddled — Berkeley bar Pappy’s Grill and Sports Bar has closed permanently after a decade in business, according to a sign posted on the bar’s front door.

A handwritten sign outside the Berkeley staple, located on Telegraph Avenue just blocks away from Sproul Plaza, reads, “We officially shut down. Thanks for everything.” It is unclear when the sign was first posted.

 

Since opening in 2012 on the decades-old Larry Blake's property, Pappy's was a frequent watering hole for Berkeley students and guests coming for football games, serving as one of the few bars in walking distance to the campus and Memorial Stadium,. The basement was also a frequent gathering spot, operating as both a nightclub called Lux on weekends and as a banquet hall for catering events.

The bar also been marred by plenty of controversy in the past decade, including accusations of discriminatory hiring practices and  losing its liquor license after multiple reported incidents of selling alcohol to minors in 2018.

 

A sign posted outside of Pappy's announcing its closure.

 

Former owner Alex Popov, who now operates the bar and club Cornerstone according to his LinkedIn, disputed the allegations of discrimination on a since-deleted Facebook post, according to Berkeleyside's Nosh. Popov reportedly wrote that “we support diversity and equality and we wouldn’t have been able to operate in Berkeley without that approach.”

The Yelp page for Pappy's has been updated with Yelp users reporting “this location has closed.”

Multiple phone calls made to the restaurant went answered, and an email sent to an email address posted on Pappy’s Facebook did not immediately receive a response.