When the COVID-19 pandemic halted campus operations in 2020, the Draught Horse Pub and Grill took a financial blow. Temple students and administration were devastated to see the campus pillar, located on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near Broad Street, boarded up after 20 years of serving the community.
Beginning in November, after nearly four years sans Draught Horse, The Peabody will offer an upscale bar and dining experience reminiscent of what came before.
“The Draught Horse was a staple here on campus,” said Jonathan Reiter, associate vice president of business affairs and administration. “People who graduated twenty years ago remember the Draught Horse. So we really wanted to have alumni twenty years from now talk about The Peabody.”
Glu Hospitality, the managing company for The Peabody and Bagels & Co., partnered with Temple to instate The Peabody as a sports bar as memorable as what used to stand in the now-empty lot.
The bar and restaurant was originally scheduled to open in Fall 2022 but has faced two years of delays and multiple missed scheduled opening dates as Glu prioritized the launch of Bagels & Co. next door.
The Peabody will be a 6,000-square-foot sports bar and restaurant duo, designed to be a haven for students and faculty to grab a quick bite and watch sports games. With 40 bar seats and 150 dining seats available, the Temple community will have a spacious venue to nosh on American cuisine or sip their signature cocktails.
Students have felt the Draught Horse’s absence in the past four years and called on Temple to offer a wider variety of campus nightlife. With Pub Webb and Maxi’s being the only nightlife options for more than 7,500 students living on or near campus, many students think having another bar is necessary.
Emma Lipson, a senior sociology and philosophy double major, recently turned 21 and was looking forward to enjoying the campus bars. However, when she went to Maxi’s for the first time, the crowd size turned her off from making a second visit.
“It was crowded,” Lipson said. “There’s a lot of people on this campus, and I also saw so many people that I know, and I feel like another bar would have helped to dilute and space out the amount of people so it’s not as concentrated in one space.”
Glu originally worked closely with former President Jason Wingard, hoping to create a better nightlife atmosphere near Main Campus.
In addition to The Peabody, Temple is looking to revitalize the intersection of Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, with plans to introduce new businesses and bring activity back to the area. Reiter hopes bringing in new tenants could bring the block back to life after multiple business closures across campus.
“[The Barnes and Noble] is just a vacant piece of real estate right now,” Reiter said. “We put the window wrappings on it that pays tribute to North Philadelphia. But longer term, or even shorter term, we want a tenant or multiple tenants in that space to bring activity to that intersection.”
Reiter describes the creative process for The Peabody as an intentional way to serve the Temple community, rather than a chain store that serves bagels and cream cheese in uniformity. Glu and Temple used the additional two years to tailor The Peabody’s atmosphere to the needs of college students, hoping to build a sports bar that would withstand the test of time.
“[The ambiance] was important for us — everything from the name The Peabody, which is in recognition of the Peabody residence [hall] that we tore down a couple of years ago,” Reiter said. “And then customizing the menu for college students, really making sure that things are priced correctly and the offerings are there.”
Students echo these goals and feel another bar on campus is not only necessary for crowd control but for safety concerns as well. Grace Toriello, a senior communication studies major, doesn’t always feel safe going into the city for a night out. The convenience of having a bar within walking distance of her apartment is also compelling.
Many students have continuously expressed their hesitancy to utilize public transportation near campus due to fears of harassment. By offering nightlife options on campus, students feel more secure when closer to home.
“I’m always in favor of another bar on campus,” Toriello said. “Because then, people don’t actually have to go very far, and it’s easier to get home after you go out. And I feel that it’s probably safer.”
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