Ordinarily, the biggest complaints on St. Patrick's Day in Bethesda would be the lack of a St. Patrick's Day parade, and the archaic Montgomery County government liquor sales monopoly. But in 2021, Bethesda is for the first time in its modern history without a single Irish pub. Of course, the remaining bars in Bethesda will be celebrating the holiday, and every local establishment needs our support at this difficult time.
Flanagan's Harp & Fiddle was the last Irish pub in the downtown. It closed its doors in 2020, citing the Bethesda Streetery street closures as the last straw that led to its demise. Ri-Ra closed in 2013, one of the earliest victims of the Montgomery County Council's "nighttime economy" fiasco, that ultimately resulted in nearly 20 Bethesda nightspots closing by the end of the decade. The closest Irish establishment to the downtown today will be The Irish Inn at Glen Echo, at 6119 Tulane Avenue in Glen Echo.
5 comments:
Hawkers is proof that if you open places that people want to go for nightlife, they'll go. While it's nice that Room & Board is coming to Bethesda Row, it does absolutely nothing for nightlife in Bethesda.... Check that, it does more than a retail bank branch would. It's simply pathetic that there aren't more nightlife places in Bethesda. The area has such potential with all the walkability, development and construction.
Despite BlueAnon, the Irish are historically the most discriminated of all people in any part of the world.
It is interesting that Federal Realty's Pike & Rose project seems to be weighted towards bars and trendy restaurants while their Bethesda Row properties seem to be geared more towards shopping and fast casual. You'd think that'd be reversed, considering downtown Bethesda's higher density. As someone who lives closer to P&R, I'm not complaining.
12:05 PM Very true! Sad Bethesda is left with places like Caddies. Mediocre food. Smoking on the deck makes it not a nice outdoor place either. It's like that was all fine in college but I don't want to live through that again. Microwave frozen food has tasted better.
Tommy Joes is ok. Brickside is good but is a small space.
Hawkers was packing them in on the covered patio on even the coldest nights, so I expect it to do very well when things reopen and the weather warms up.
My God- will someone ever do anything with the old Union Jack's space on St. Elmo?
Pike & Rose (and Downtown Crown) is drawing some of the crowds that would have come south to Downtown Bethesda.
Hell, lots of Bethesda residents go up to Pike & Rose since they've had better restaurants.
Maybe the Spanish Diner will be a draw for Bethesda Row. Along with Tacombi.
Downtown Bethesda desperately needs something like Punchbowl Social or Pinstripes.
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