SOHA Bar & Grill is closing its doors on Hampton Avenue for good on Sept. 30, ending its run as a Clifton Heights neighborhood gastropub. The bar and restaurant sits at 2605 Hampton Ave., in the space formerly occupied by Off the Vine.
News of the closure was reported by stltoday.com, which confirmed that SOHA Bar & Grill will shut down at the end of the month in Clifton Heights. The announcement marks the end of a run that was announced back in 2012, when the space was first announced as SOHA's future home.
A Gastropub Built Around Craft Beer
When SOHA was first announced in 2012, Sauce Magazine reported that the gastropub would take over the Hampton Avenue address once occupied by Off the Vine, with an opening planned for four to six weeks after that August report. The concept's big draw at the time was its beer list — the publication noted the bar would offer more than 30 craft beers on draft, a substantial lineup for the neighborhood at the time.
A Tough Stretch for Full-Service Restaurants
SOHA's closure comes as the restaurant industry nationally is still growing overall but facing real strain underneath that growth. The National Restaurant Association projects $1.55 trillion in U.S. restaurant sales for 2026, with inflation-adjusted gains of just 1.3 percent, and says restaurant operators expect to add roughly 100,000 jobs this year for a total of 15.8 million workers. Even with that growth, the association points to uneven customer traffic and rising costs continuing to squeeze revenue and profitability across the sector.
The traditional full-service model — big dining rooms, expansive menus, heavy staffing and thin margins — is increasingly difficult to sustain.
What happens to the Hampton Avenue building after Sept. 30 has not been reported. For now, Clifton Heights loses one more piece of its longtime restaurant row, in a space formerly occupied by Off the Vine.
