After nearly 13 years on Patten Parkway, the Irish pub Honest Pint is shutting down at the end of the month.
Matt Lewis, who has owned and developed several downtown restaurants, helped open the Honest Pint in September 2010. In a telephone interview Friday, Lewis said business at the Honest Pint has not yet rebounded to its pre-pandemic levels even after the redevelopment of Patten Parkway and the opening of Patten Square nearly two years ago.
"Since COVID, it's been pretty hard to reestablish the business that we had before," Lewis said. "There's also a lot of struggles finding and maintaining adequate staffing levels."
Lewis said the increase in remote work by many downtown workers, including the shift away from the office for thousands of workers at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Unum has reduced some restaurant and bar business in downtown Chattanooga.
File Photo / Matt Lewis sits inside the Honest Pint on Patten Parkway in 2017.Lewis and his partners also closed The Terminal Brewhouse in April 2022.
In an Instagram post, the owners of the Honest Pint said, "Unfortunately, the rumors are true" and the downtown bar and restaurant will close May 28.
"Due to circumstances outside of our control, the Honest Pint will be closing its doors for the last time on Memorial Day," the owners said in an Instagram post. "We thank you for all your years of support and love."
The Honest Pint is at Patten Parkway and Lindsay Street on the site of the former Parkway Billiards, which was redeveloped into the Irish pub with a $160,000 transformation in 2010.
The Irish Pub is housed in part of the 35,000-square-foot, century-old building on Patten Parkway that was acquired in February for $4.7 million by a Tennessee investment firm, Evelyn Capital of Nashville.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.
Staff Photo by Dave Flessner / The Honest Pint on Patten Parkway, shown here Friday, will shut down May 28 after nearly 13 years of operation.