Craft beer forerunner closes its doors
Owner of The Drafting Room, a restaurant and bar in Uwchlan, will continue to operate nearby Brickside Grille
UWCHLAN » The restaurant that billed itself as “Chester County’s Original Craft Beer Bar” has served its last IPA.
The Drafting Room Taproom and Grille on Route 100 closed Monday after 23 years in business. Owner Andrew Weintraub said the time was right for him to consolidate his two-restaurant operation into one. Weintraub also runs the nearby Brickside Grille in the Eagleview Town Center, which remains open.
“I’ve come to a point in life where it’s time to move on,” Weintraub said Tuesday at The Drafting Room. “It’s time to let someone else do it.”
Weintraub said the business, along with its liquor license, is for sale.
“Let them put their twist on it,” he said of the next owner.
A typewritten note on the restaurant’s front door summed up his feelings on the move:
“After 23 wonderful years in business, we have made the difficult decision that it is time for us to move on to other endeavors in our lives.
“As of Monday, Nov. 13, we will be closing The Drafting Room. We would like to thank everyone who has come through our doors and become long time friends and guests. We would like to thank all of our staff throughout the 23 years who have helped make The Drafting Room a wonderful and proud place to work.
“Thank you for all of your support.
“—The Weintraub Family”
Weintraub said he and his brother Howard ran the restaurants together until Howard left about three years ago to pursue other interests.
“It’s been a little different” since then, Andrew Weintraub said. “It’s time to shrink my responsibilities and headaches a little. It takes a lot of effort to run restaurants”
The Brickside will honor Drafting Room gift cards and those with reservations will be accommodated there as well.
Weintraub, 51, of Downingtown, said the restaurant business has changed noticeably since the Drafting Room opened its doors in 1994.
“I think we were the first ones to sell Victory” from a keg, he said of the Downingtown craft brewer that opened around the same time.
Calling the Drafting Room a neighborhood American restaurant serving craft beer, Weintraub said he is taking plenty of good memories with him.
“It felt from day one you knew the people walking through the door,” he said. “They were nice people who interacted well with the staff. It felt like a good neighborhood place.” One benefit of the competitive restaurant business in the Exton area is that nearly all members of the staff of The Drafting Room have found new jobs, Weintraub said.