With Opening Day of the MLB season less than a week away, Orioles fans have one less bar to visit on Pratt Street, but one new megabar to patronize in South Baltimore.
Camden Pub, which opened in 1990, closed quietly in February and will not reopen, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Located at 647 W. Pratt Street, it was within easy walking distance of Oriole Park, which opened in 1992. This is the first season that Oriole Park has been open and Camden Pub won’t be.
Owner Pat Liberto told the Sun’s Wesley Case he decided to close the Ridgely’s Delight bar and restaurant for a variety of reasons, including $30,000 in lost potential revenue after the Freddie Gray riots of 2015.
“Things just started to change” after the riots, he was quoted as saying. “People are afraid to come into the city.”
Liberto was quoted at greater length by ABC2.
“People don’t feel safe coming downtown,” he was quoted as saying. “I see the same in other establishments. It seems that business is just down. Unfortunately, the economic environment in Baltimore City over the last few years, and in my opinion lack of leadership, has made it more and more difficult to sustain an operation such as mine. Camden Pub had a great run. We thank everyone for their longtime patronage and cherished friendship.”
In South Baltimore, meanwhile, owners had a “soft opening” last weekend for Crossbar der Biergarten, a German beer garden and restaurant at 18 E. Cross Street that has been in the works for four years.
The owners got a liquor license in February and said they planned to open in March. Last weekend, patrons got to sample Crossbar’s beers and food while the operators tested their kitchen and beer taps.
According to Crossbar’s Facebook page, full service will begin in less than a week. That’s just in time for Opening Day, April 4.
soooo… if “people don’t come downtown…” how do you account for the increasing numbers of residents, people at the bars in fells and fed hill, etc. more likely, bad management.
I own Sliders Bar & Grill. 771 feet from homeplate. Business is good. It is very safe near Camden Yards. We have just rebranded and became an official Natty Boh Bar. I want everything to have a Baltimore feel.