Rob McElhenney’s ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’-Inspired Bar Is Shutting Down

A Philadelphia bar owned by Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson is closing its doors after 16 years of service. Now would be the time for a classic Frank Reynolds bail-out.

Back in 2009, McElhenney, Olson and a handful of other entrepreneurial drinkers purchased Skinner’s Bar at 226 Market Street in Philadelphia and turned it into Mac’s Tavern, a fun little hang-out for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans from out of town and Philly locals alike to drink like they’re trying to beat Boggs. Then, when McElhenney branched out into other business ventures, Mac’s Tavern became a hotspot for Wrexham A.F.C. fans and Philadelphia’s foremost watering hole for Four Walls Whiskey drinkers, placing the bar smack-dab at the center of a bustling community of McElhenney patrons.

Well, earlier this week, Mac’s Tavern made the heart-breaking announcement that they will soon close their doors for good, thanking their long-time customers for keeping the bar afloat for as long as they did. Sadly, that sign out front doesn’t seem to be advertising ice-cold delicious Coors.

After Mac’s Tavern made the disappointing announcement, long-time patrons lamented that they will need to find a new place to eat luxuriously dressed French fries. “NOOO Ya’ll the only ones who know how to make Poutine :(,” one Philadelphian commented under the above post.

“Best gravy fries in the city!” another added.

However, other Mac’s Tavern regulars were ready to place blame over the bar’s closing on management, including one commenter who claimed that Mac’s Tavern had “stopped paying their working staff” in the weeks leading up to the announcement. They wrote, “It’s kinda wild you posting this ‘we’re really just torn guys’ when those people still kept working because they were proud of how great it was to come to work — they had made this atmosphere — and they kept working after you stopped paying — I mean you understand this correct?”

Withholding wages from workers would be a legally actionable injustice, but until actual Mac’s Tavern staff members speak out on the closing, it will not be possible to verify the accusations levied against Mac’s Tavern management, although other commenters said that the bar was running irregular hours and unfamiliar staff in the final weeks of its operation. But whatever happened in the lead-up to this disappointing finale, Philadelphians agree that the Old City neighborhood just lost one of its best haunts.

Also, if Mac’s Tavern was having money problems that Frank Reynolds couldn’t solve, you gotta wonder if he ever considered calling his cousin Ryan.