Sadlack’s, the Raleigh dive bar that closed its doors in 2013 after 40 years on Hillsborough Street, is coming back. Henry Goodall plans to reopen the beloved spot in a few months at a new location under new ownership, bringing a fresh chapter to a name that generations of Raleigh regulars never quite let go of.
According to The News & Observer, the reopening is planned for 913 W. Morgan St. in Raleigh. The new Sadlack’s will open for drinks only to start, with food to follow if all goes well, the paper reports. Goodall has reportedly been working on reviving Sadlack’s for two years and recently obtained permits to complete the renovation of the building.
What the New Space Will Look Like
The planned layout includes a large opening room, a front and back patio, and a back deck, per the same report. That mix of indoor and outdoor space echoes the sprawling, laid-back feel longtime patrons associated with the original Hillsborough Street location, though Goodall has been clear that this is not a straightforward resurrection of the old menu. Goodall described the revival as more a nod to nostalgia than the return of the bar’s humble hero menu, the article notes.
Still, the spirit behind the project sounds familiar. Goodall said he wanted to bring a Raleigh favorite back, and said the new bar aims to create a sense of community — he put it simply: that’s what we’re trying to create here. He also said Sadlack’s fostered a community that brought together people from different professions, a dynamic he hopes the new location can recapture.
A Dive Bar With Deep Musical Roots
Sadlack’s wasn’t just a place to grab a sandwich and a beer — it carved out a lasting spot in Raleigh’s music history. In the ’80s, Corrosion of Conformity, one of Raleigh’s and North Carolina’s most successful heavy metal bands, used to play in the parking lot, and in the ’90s it became an alt-country hotbed, according to Longreads. That legacy as more than a kitchen is echoed elsewhere too: it wasn’t just a sandwich place, ever, as Indy Week put it in a piece on the bar’s closing, describing it as a hub for community events and benefits as much as a restaurant.
The bar's history even includes an earlier, unrealized reinvention. Indy Week previously reported that Sadlack’s was set to become the Berkeley Cafe, nearly two miles from campus in downtown Raleigh — a transition that evidently never stuck, given that the name has persisted in local memory long enough to warrant this latest revival.
Joining an Already Busy Stretch of Morgan Street
The new Sadlack’s won't be arriving to an empty block. Morgan Street already features popular spots like Gussie’s, Wolf & Portar, The Bend Bar and Irregardless Café, plus arts groups like VAE Raleigh, according to the News & Observer’s report. That gives Goodall’s project a built-in crowd of nearby bars, restaurants, and arts-minded neighbors to draw from as he works to rebuild Sadlack’s reputation in a part of the city far removed from its original Hillsborough Street footprint.
News of the return was first reported by Raleigh Magazine, according to the News & Observer. For now, the opening remains a few months out, with the drinks-only start serving as the first test of whether Raleigh still has room — and appetite — for the dive bar it lost more than a decade ago.
