Bar 145, the popular gastropub and live music venue based in Toledo, has just opened its first location in Columbus, Ohio. The corporate-owned bar and restaurant is located at 955 West Fifth Ave on the border of Columbus and Grandview. The new location opened in early 2014.
“I am incredibly excited to bring the Bar 145 concept to Columbus,” says Bar 145 owner-operator Jeremy Fitzgerald. “Out of all the places in the Midwest we were looking at, Columbus and Grandview were right at the top of our list. We found an ideal location and can’t wait to open our doors to the community.”
Bar 145 is a gastropub which utilizes local farmers and purchases fresh products daily for its extensive menu of gourmet burgers and other food that elevates simple pub fare under the watchful eye of executive chef Robby Lucas, who has experience working at some of the nation’s finest restaurants. He continues to oversee Bar 145’s menu at each of its new locations. While gastropubs traditionally feature craft beer, Bar 145 spotlights bourbon and offers an extensive list of bourbons and bourbon-based cocktails.
The Columbus location is the largest Bar 145 location thus far at 5,400 square feet, and will feature a 1,200 square foot mezzanine with a private bar. It will also feature a 1,200 square foot patio that will be fully enclosed in the winter so it can be used year-round. Both the mezzanine and the patio can be rented for private parties. The mezzanine bar will also host bourbon tastings from the restaurant’s selection of 30 bourbons, including Columbus’s own Watershed. It will feature live entertainment from cover bands six nights a week.
The new bar is located very close to both downtown Columbus and Ohio State University campus, which Fitzgerald hopes will attract college students and the area’s dense population of young professionals alike.
“There are a lot of neighborhood bars in Grandview and Columbus, but not many venues for live music so we’re really excited to be able to offer that to the area,” says Fitzgerald. “We’re hoping to fill a niche for higher-end, chef-driven restaurants with great drinks and great live entertainment.”
Bar 145 began franchising in July 2012. While this first Columbus location is corporate-owned, Fitzgerald hopes to open a total of three locations serving the Columbus region and is also interested in selling the territory to a qualified franchisee. Bar 145 projects opening a new location every six months with a combination of both corporate-owned and franchised locations. Target markets include Cleveland, Chicago, Miami, Nashville and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
