This Saturday, June 29, will mark 50 years since the opening of one of Athens’ most beloved bars: The Pub Bar and Grill. Located unassumingly between Pawpurr’s Bar and The J Bar at 39 N. Court St., the flat, green facade of The Pub offers no indication of the rich history contained within the establishment.
A spectator of this history is Rebecca Jenkins, a 1996 Ohio University graduate and former employee of The Pub. Jenkins worked at The Pub for two years before her graduation but was a patron of the bar long before.
“It was a long-standing place to go to eat and hang out – and of course the nightlife – but I ended up working there while I was in physical therapy school, behind the bar,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins recalls iconic music of the mid-90s constantly ringing throughout the bar, as well as some regulars who would never spend an afternoon without a visit to The Pub. Other than those peculiarities, Jenkins asserts the establishment has remained the same over time.
“Nothing has changed, it’s exactly the same,” she said. “The same smells, the same everything.”
The current general manager of The Pub, Garret Mathson, agrees the bar is more or less identical to when he began working there 18 years ago.
“These days you see a lot of servers coming up with … electronics and iPads and stuff like that, and just walking into a place like this where somebody takes your order and writes it down and adds it up in their head and hands it back to you … it is kind of a dying thing that’s going away, but I think it’s special to hold onto certain aspects of business like that,” Mathson said.
The classic aspects of The Pub are part of what Mathson believes keeps alumni constantly coming back, which will be a highlight of the upcoming 50th-anniversary celebration. Saturday June 29, Court Street will be closed down for a block party celebration, which alumni, current students and locals are encouraged to attend.
“There’s going to be art vendors and a kids’ area with a bouncy castle and Kona Ice,” Mathson said. “We’ll have a grill set up out front and a merchandise area set up … I’m going to be grilling burgers and selling them for the original price that we started with in 1974, which I believe is $2.”
Proceeds from the event will go to the Athens County Veterans Association, and the establishment will be open during regular hours the rest of the week so returning alumni can soak up as much time in the bar as they want.
“I think that place right there (The Pub) is one of the places in the world where energies converge into a vortex, it’s really a very special place,” Mathson said.
The general manager met his wife at The Pub and recalls hearing many similar stories from patrons over the years, citing The Pub as “home to a lot of people.” In the next 50 years, Mathson hopes The Pub will continue to be “the melting pot that it is.”
Jenkins also discussed The Pub’s status as a “classic."
"It’s one of those places you can always count on to know exactly what you’re getting when you go in,” Jenkins said. “It’s a friendly atmosphere, it’s totally a chill vibe, always has been as far as I know.”
Jenkins recalls many traditions from her time working at the bar, including the Marching 110 gathering there early in the morning before the parade during Homecoming Weekend.
“I hope they continue with all their traditions,” she said.
Above all, Mathson expresses gratitude on behalf of himself, the establishment and employees past and present for the years of support The Pub has received, and is excited to see familiar faces return for the 50th-anniversary celebration.
