Packard Pub packs it up

Closed, open, then closed again

by Tony McReynolds

posted 3/25/2012

When students left town for the U-M winter break, the Packard Pub closed its doors and posted a hand-lettered sign on the door that read, "Happy Holidays. See you in 2012." As of mid-February, the doors remained locked and lights dark. Boding even less well is the phone number scrawled on the sign beneath the holiday good wishes: it belongs to a law firm in Mount Clemens that specializes in bankruptcy cases. Several calls were not returned.

The place had a bumpy history. Kyle Miller opened it in the former Artisan Bakery space on the corner of Packard and State in March 2010 and then abruptly closed it down last spring with a sign in the window announcing it was closed for renovations. The pub reopened last September under new owner Joseph Goychay and managed to struggle on for another four months. Technically, the owners still have another eight months to make good on their promise to see everyone in 2012, but frankly, the possibility of that happening doesn't look good.   

[Originally published in March, 2012.]