Mudlick pub closing in Germantown, heads for Dayton

“It has been an amazing two years, but the time has come for us to grow!” Mudlick’s owners wrote on the Germantown pub’s Facebook page. “The new location is coming along and we are shooting for a mid-June opening in downtown Dayton.”

Mudlick co-founder Jennifer Dean said she and co-founder Forrest Williams made the decision to close in part because Mudlick quickly outgrew the leased Germantown space. The Mudlick owners also analyzed their credit-card receipts and determined that a sizable proportion of their business in Germantown was coming from residents of Dayton, Centerville and Kettering who were making the drive to western Montgomery County.

All eight of the employees of the Germantown Mudlick are transferring to the downtown Dayton location, Dean said.

The 1940s-era bar that Dean and Williams rescued from the former McCook bowling alley on Keowee Street in Dayton also will be making the trip up Germantown Pike to the new gastropub.

“We’re bringing everything downtown,” Dean said.

Dean and Williams have spent the last several months renovating the former Club Aquarius space at 135 E. Second St.

Mudlick Tap House Dayton initially will occupy the first two floors of the three-story building, each floor containing about 4,500 square feet. The restaurant will offer a broad menu ranging from sandwiches to entrees, with a focus on locally sourced ingredients, Dean said. The tap house will have a dozen beer taps, all devoted to craft beers, and will serve cocktails and wine as well.