After 50 years spent pouring drafts and slicing hot roast beef behind the bar at Cherry Street Tavern, Bill Loughery says it is simply time to take off the apron. The 124-year-old Logan Square institution is now near a sale, with the Loughery family, who has owned the tavern since 1990, still searching for the right buyer to take it over.
Bill and his brother Bob Loughery started as bartenders at the tavern in their early twenties, working behind the bar for two decades before purchasing it outright in 1990, according to PHILADELPHIA.Today. Over the decades that followed, the brothers transformed what had been a modest neighborhood taproom into a thriving destination for food and drink, building a loyal and eclectic following along the way.
As reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the tavern's roots trace back even further than the Loughery family's tenure. Former La Salle College High School head football coach John “Tex” Flannery bought the bar in 1972 and later hired Bill Loughery in 1976, bringing on Bob to help manage the operation before selling it to the brothers when he retired in 1990.
A Sandwich That Built a Following
When the Lougherys first started working behind the bar, the tavern had no food service at all, per the same account. Bob and Bill Loughery went on to create the tavern's signature hot roast beef sandwich in the late 1970s, a kaiser-roll staple piled with jus, sharp provolone, and horseradish that was pulling in roughly 100 orders a day by 2019.
The beer program grew alongside it. The taproom offered just three beers, Schaefer, Schlitz, and Ortlieb's, when the brothers took over bar operations in the mid-1970s, before they expanded the draft system to 14 rotating lines and added homemade soups and chili, the Inquirer's reporting notes.
Surviving Prohibition as a Barbershop
Cherry Street Tavern first opened as a bar around 1902 and has operated at 22nd and Cherry Streets in Center City since the early 1900s, per PHILADELPHIA.Today. The tavern survived Prohibition by converting its interior into a functional barbershop while reportedly still selling alcohol to patrons out of backroom spaces, according to the Inquirer, with the original bar fixtures returned once Repeal Day arrived and normal operations resumed.
Much of that early character remains intact today. The Inquirer's reporting describes an elaborately carved mahogany backbar, oversized beveled mirrors, white tile flooring, an operating vintage rotary phone, and a tiled floor trough beneath the bar that once served as a spittoon along the brass footrail, a pre-World War II relic no longer in use.
Regulars From Construction Sites to Championship Rosters
The tavern's clientele has long spanned the spectrum, from local construction workers, lawyers, and art students to boxing legend Joe Frazier, basketball star Larry Bird, and former Philadelphia Flyers player Scott Hartnell, according to CBS News. That mix reflects Logan Square's own transformation over the Lougherys' tenure, from an industrial pocket of textile mills, auto body shops, and vacant warehouses into a dense, affluent Center City residential neighborhood, the Inquirer reports.
Weighing a Buyer, and a Sandwich's Future
A sale of the tavern was believed to be close as of two months ago, per the Inquirer's reporting at the time, and a prospective buyer had planned to expand the kitchen and undertake other renovations. Bill and Bob Loughery have said they want a buyer who will preserve the tavern's character, and the search for the right owner continues even as the bar stays open for business, PHILADELPHIA.Today reports.
Commercial real estate brokers note that a property like this depends heavily on the sales volume a location can support, since that figure drives the rent an operator can pay. Douglas Green, a principal at the commercial real estate brokerage MSC, has pointed out that a building like this could ultimately become more valuable for a non-restaurant use than as a working tavern.
Part of a Wider Shift in Center City's Bar Scene
Cherry Street Tavern's potential sale lands amid a broader wave of legacy Center City taverns testing the market. The 90-year-old McGlinchey's Bar at 259 S. 15th St. was listed for $2.45 million in early 2026 before a prospective purchase by Alterra Property Group fell through in July, according to the Inquirer, with the building still listed for sale along with its liquor license and name.
Other long-running spots have followed a similar path. The 130-year-old Bonner's Irish Pub at 23rd and Sansom Streets was listed for $6 million in 2024 as its owner sought a development partner for a boutique hotel that could still incorporate a smaller bar lounge, while chef Townsend Wentz's 268-seat tavern The Hayes on Walnut Street was listed for $2.93 million in July, per the Inquirer's reporting.
Property records reviewed by LoopNet show Cherry Street Tavern sits on a 0.05-acre commercial parcel at 129 N. 22nd St., in Center City's Market Street West submarket at the northeast corner of 22nd and Cherry Streets. For now, the century-old tavern remains open, its future resting on finding a buyer willing to keep the roast beef sandwiches, the mahogany backbar, and the neighborhood's affection for the place all intact.
