If you’ve spent any time on Ohio State’s campus over the past six decades, you’ve probably made at least one questionable decision inside Bier Stube. And if you didn’t? Well… you probably weren’t doing college right.
When Bier Stube announced it was closing last year to make way for new housing development, it felt like the end of an era on High Street. Generations of Buckeyes raised a glass in that dimly lit, wood-paneled dive, and losing it left a huge hole in campus bar culture. But here’s the good news: the Stube is back.
If you’re anything like myself and my roommates, this news is even bigger than the Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift engagement. See the screenshot from my college group chat below…
The New Location
The legendary campus bar is reopening just four blocks from its old home, taking over the former Junior’s Bar & Grill at 234 King Ave. And this isn’t some tiny replacement. The new space comes with a sizeable patio, more indoor seating than the original, and a prime spot right next to The Bottle Shop, Alqueria, and Pelino’s Pasta. That’s one seriously stacked corner of Columbus nightlife at Neil and King.
Same Stube Vibes, New Chapter
Sure, it won’t be exactly the same. How could it be? But Bier Stube’s owner apparently saved most (if not all) of the original decor, and plans are in place to recreate that gritty, lovable charm that made the bar a legend in the first place. If you ever ducked under low ceilings with a beer in hand or carved your initials into a corner booth, you’ll recognize the soul of the place when it reopens.
It’s a playbook we’ve seen succeed before. Too’s Under High morphed into Three’s Above High, then Fours on High, and now Five’s Up High. The O Patio reinvented itself as The O on Lane. These bars may look different on the surface, but the energy carries forward. Bier Stube seems ready to follow in those footsteps.
Why It Matters
Campus bars are more than just drinking spots. They’re memory machines. They’re where you celebrated passing that exam you swore you failed (looking at you Accounting 2 with Marc Smith, the 🐐), or where you met someone who became a lifelong friend (or at least your trivia partner for the semester). Bier Stube was that kind of place. And now, with a bigger space and a new location, the Stube has a shot at bringing that same magic to the next generation of Buckeyes.
Whether they call it Bier Stube 2.0, the Bier S2ube, or just “the new Stube,” the name doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s coming back, and that campus just got a little more fun again.
Word on the street is that they’re eyeing an opening by Halloween and, at the latest, The Game. Who else is fired up?!?!
Raise a glass, Buckeyes. The Stube lives on!
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