|
|
|
Them's the rules at Port Richmond Pour House
Bartender John Boswell, who took over neighborhood tappie Corner Spot (2253 E. Clearfield Ave.) this past winter to convert it into Port Richmond Pour House, is not an unreasonable guy. But if you're going to get lubed up at his bar, you have to be aware of the rules.
Them's the rules at Port Richmond Pour House
Bartender John Boswell, who took over neighborhood tappie Corner Spot (2253 E. Clearfield Ave.) this past winter to convert it into Port Richmond Pour House, is not an unreasonable guy. But if you’re going to get lubed up at his bar, you have to be aware of the rules.
Most of PRPH’s 10 "House Rules," printed out and posted on the wall by the front door, are plain jane. (Click pic to enlarge.) The barkeep is king. Don't bother trying a beer if you're visibly sauced. Be respectful of neighbors. But then Boswell delves into atypical territory, stuff you normally don't read posted in public eyeshot at a neighborhood drinking establishment. "If you smoked wet today, don't ask for shit," intones Rule No. 7. Cool guy wanting to start a running tab? "Don't bother asking, we don’t care who you are." Abutting the Top 10, in oversize font, is a wholly separate and very straightforward disclaimer, granting bar staff carte blanche to toss out anyone they deem “riff raff, low-lifes, scumbags or just plain assholes."
"When I first took over the place, the rules went up and business went down," says Boswell, who poured drinks at the defunct Swift Half before launching PRPH. "They sound funny, but they came from a real place. They needed to be said." Shady-ass dealers were an unwelcome fixture in the Pour House's early days. "When I first started coming around, guys were using my bar as their 'office,'" says Boswell. "I would have to pull them aside and tell them to their face, 'Don't bring your job in here.'"
There have been a handful of incidents requiring that the House Rules be enforced. "Right around the time I took over, a 'good' batch [of wet] came through the neighborhood," says Boswell. "We had a guy come through that looked like he was in Super Mario Land. I kept waiting for him to grow bigger and start shooting fireballs. But it really hasn’t been an issue since then."
Though he's upped the prevalence of craft brews and made tweaks to the interior, PRPH is still very much, in Boswell's words, a "shot and beer" bar — he's not messing with that DNA and maintains a solid crop of local return customers as a result. But he feels his simple, honest tactic has made a marked difference in the way the bar is perceived. "It's become a place where regulars can come and not worry about drugs and violence," he says. "I would never want to alienate them. I love the fact that they can hang out and not be worried about someone coming in all wetted out."
"I've always kind of thought of my place as The Thunderdome," Boswell adds. "Anything goes. I let people do what they want. But I set the rules."
- barstool scientist
- Booze
- Brew Revue
- Chef Salad
- Closings
- Coffee
- Contests
- Dealage
- Dirty Dishes
- Don't Front
- Eat This Immediately
- Field Trip
- Food and Art
- Food and Holidays
- Food and Movies
- Food and Music
- Food and Politics
- Food and Sports
- Food and Web
- Food Blogs
- Food Books
- Food Events
- Food News
- Food TV
- Gifted
- Happy Hour Hopper
- How-To
- In Print
- Interview
- Meal Ticket
- Menu Time
- Not So Quickfire
- Notes from the Weekend
- On Wheels
- Openings
- Patio Drinking
- Philly Beer Week 2010
- Photos
- Private Chef POV
- Product Placement
- Recipes
- Snack Time
- Stiff Drank
- SUPPER
- Tea
- Testing
- Ticket Stubs
- Top Chef
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Video
- Weekly Candy
- Weird Regional Foods
- We're Here to Help
- Where'd We Eat?
- Drew Lazor's Ill-Advised Rant Factory
- Pregame
- Ill-Advised Ranting
- The Week Without Meat
- Philly Beer Week 2009
- Real Big
- Where'd I Eat Last Night?
- Top Chef Masters
- The Good Word
- Next Iron Chef
- Arterial Terrorism
- Food and Radio
