Barley's Brewing Company is about to shuffle its whole operation up a flight of stairs. Starting in late December, the 34-year-old High Street brewpub will temporarily move its bar and restaurant business to the building's second floor while crews renovate the ground floor, all without closing its doors to customers.
According to Columbus Underground, the move upstairs will replace Brewcadia, the retro arcade machine brand Barley's opened on its second floor back in 2016. The gaming cabinets and pinball machines won't disappear for good, though — Barley's says they'll find new homes throughout the community as the brand winds down to make room for the temporary dining setup.
Once the renovation wraps, the upstairs won't just revert to arcade duty. Barley's plans to turn that space into a quieter lounge after the grand reopening, complete with a separate bar focused on bourbons, tequilas and cocktails — a permanent addition rather than a temporary fix.
What's Changing Downstairs
Owner Tiffany Sexton described the ground-floor work as mostly cosmetic, aimed at injecting more energy into the space. The plan includes more light, music and televisions up front, with a quieter seating area tucked in back for people who want to escape the buzz.
“We'll have more elevated furnishings, but still a comfortable place to hang out,” owner Tiffany Sexton said, according to the same report. Barley's says the menu overhaul will lean into new options — more cocktails and mocktails, plus the brewpub's first-ever house-made seltzer on tap — while microbrews stay central to the concept.
Sexton has been candid that craft beer and drinking habits have shifted since Barley's first opened its taps, and that the original 1992 concept no longer lines up with what customers want today. Still, the brewpub isn't abandoning its roots: burgers, the famous grilled wings and sauerkraut balls are all staying on the menu, the report notes.
A Changed Neighborhood
General Manager Ian Boyland has watched the competitive landscape around Barley's transform since it first opened its doors in 1992, sitting across the street from what's now the Convention Center. The Arena District wasn't even announced until five years later, and Boyland recalled that once the arena was built, Barley's and a handful of other restaurants were among the only places in the area to grab food before hockey games, often with lines out the door.
That scarcity is long gone. As the Arena District, Downtown and the Short North have grown over the decades, so has the competition, Boyland said, and both the neighborhood's businesses and customer expectations have changed along with it.
Barley's isn't alone in feeling the squeeze. Ohio's craft breweries are now struggling amid a post-pandemic decline in alcohol consumption, according to Axios, with nearly 500 U.S. craft breweries closing last year alone — outpacing openings by nearly 200. The Brewers Association reported that national craft beer production fell 4% last year and another 4% in the first half of 2026, as new locations compete not just against other breweries but cocktail bars and increasingly popular nonalcoholic options.
Central Ohio has felt that contraction directly. Several local breweries, including Taft's, Goodwood, Pretentious, Random Precision, Smokehouse and the short-lived Species X, closed in 2024. Nocterra Brewing Co. closed its Powell and Scioto Audubon locations, Fifty West's Chillicothe taproom closed, and Outerbelt Brewing announced an upcoming closure, per Axios's reporting. Some Ohio brewers are turning to seltzers and ciders, a shift echoed in Barley's own plans for cocktails, mocktails and its new house seltzer.
Looking Ahead To Reopening
Barley's is targeting a grand reopening in mid-to-late February, though that timeline depends on meeting construction deadlines, the brewpub says. Before any of that construction begins, though, there's one more celebration planned in the current space: an anniversary and Christmas Ale tapping on Friday, November 6, open to friends and family with free admission and live music.
Boyland said the event marks the end of this particular iteration of Barley's — but not the last Christmas Ale tapping the brand will ever hold. Expect a singalong, too; the brewpub plans to perform “O Christmas Ale” to the tune of “O Christmas Tree” at the event.
Through it all, Barley's says its original basement brewhouse, where the brand's first Pilsner and Pale Ale were brewed back in 1992, is still running today, having produced more than 2,000 batches and counting, according to the company's own account of its brewing history. Whatever changes land upstairs, downstairs or on the menu, that basement operation appears set to keep humming through the move.
