There, a bar and eatery in Brookhaven, announced April 3 that they closed their longstanding restaurant after 14 years in business. The restaurant, located in the street level of the Windsor at Brookhaven apartment building (305 Brookhaven Avenue), occupied a 2,200 square foot space.
There, which was one of the center's longest-running, continuously operating restaurants, featured an award-winning smash burger as well as other chef-crafted pub fare. There owner Bill Brown and Chef Shane Devereux opened a spinoff, There on Fifth, in the former Barrelhouse space in Tech Square in Midtown in July 2020, but it was closed by July 2023. In between the Midtown opening and closing, Brown had sought to sell his Brookhaven restaurant, listing it with The Shumacher Group in late 2021.
Brown posted the following message to the official There Facebook page announcing the closure:
"To All Our Valued Guests and Friends After a solid 14 year run and many “best of” accolades, it is with great sadness that we announce the closing of There Bar in Town Brookhaven. Our lease expired on March 31st and we were not able to come to an agreement with the landlord on how to move forward. We want to thank all of our wonderful guests and employees for supporting us over these past years. What began as a small 50-seat restaurant in a new complex, grew into a place that had become woven into the fabric of the Brookhaven community. We have welcomed tens of thousands of guests from the community and afar, employing many people over the years and we are forever grateful to all of you. We are extremely humbled that so many of you embraced our restaurant and that we were able to succeed as long as we did. For a small restaurant, 14 years is an accomplishment of which we can all be proud, and we could not have done it without all of you.
We all mourn the loss of our favorite restaurants for they provide us with so much more than food. They provide nourishment for our soul and when they are gone, much of the soul of the neighborhoods in which they resided will be gone as well; missing out on seeing a favorite bartender who remembers what we drink, saying “hi” to our favorite server and sitting at the table that makes us most comfortable, talking to the owner about life in general, seeing the hardworking support staff take extra care to provide us with a dropped napkin or a missing fork. They are a gathering place to share accounts of our days, to celebrate big events in our lives or just share a table with our friends.
Despite today’s announcement and the closing of this chapter, we are extremely proud of all that we have achieved. We would like to offer our sincerest thanks and deepest gratitude for all your support over the years.
Yours Truly, Bill, Chris, Ralph & the family of There Brookhaven"
There's closure follows the May 2022 closure of Olde Blind Dog, a popular Irish pub and another legacy TOWN Brookhaven restaurant. Olde Blind Dog, like There, was an award-winning eatery that ultimately made the decision to close, given what sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta was the landlord's unwillingness to negotiate a mutually agreeable lease renewal.
Given the tremendous amount of turnover at TOWN Brookhaven over the years, one would think it easier to keep existing tenants than look for new ones. [The former Olde Blind Dog would later be stripped of its restaurant infrastructure and become a medical office.]
The former Wing Guru (in the former Tanaka Ramen and Noodle Bar, and before that Boneheads Fish) space remains vacant, as does the former Lucky's Burger & Brew along with several other retail spaces in the complex.
Chico Cantina in the former Red Pepper/Jefe's/Noche space is slated to open by the end of the month, while Club Studio, the fancier LA Fitness is expected to debut later this year.
Are you surprised the TOWN Brookhaven landlord let There close? What is your favorite burger in Brookhaven? What would you like to see open in place of There in TOWN Brookhaven?
Please share your thoughts below.