Englander sports bar and restaurant to close.
After nearly 25 years in business, sports bar and restaurant has lost its lease
SAN LEANDRO >> It’s last call at the Englander, where a traditional English pub and an American sports bar merged into a place where regulars relaxed and newcomers were invited to pull up a stool.
The bar and restaurant, opened nearly a quartercentury ago, will shutter this week as a result of losing its lease.
“Everyone is very, very sad,” said Cheryl Thies, who owns the Parrott Street business with her husband and brother. “This has been a go-to place for so many people over the years.”
Like a sentry, an old red British telephone booth stands outside the Englander, the faded paperwork behind its glass door describing where to drop the coins and other details on making a call.
A few yards over, a Kiwanis International sign, permanently installed, tells locals that club meetings take place at the Englander 12:10 p.m.-1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
About 30 beers are on tap. (The Englander is equipped for up to 74, but the number varies by what makes sense money-wise).
Thirty-four televisions are on the walls, including nine installed in a line above the bar, which might make imbibers think they ended up in an airport lounge, checking arrivals and departures.
All of that will soon be part of history.
“There is no other place like this in San Leandro,” said Rod Thies, Cheryl’s husband. “Maybe nowhere else even in the Bay Area.”
“It’s my neighborhood bar. I am not sure where I will go now.” — Tyrone Sullivan, 63
On Saturday afternoon, a handwritten note on the front door told thirsty customers to return after 5 p.m., a result of minimal staff due to the upcoming closure.
The Englander usually opens at 11 a.m.
But longtimers ignored the sign, slipping through a side door.
Bart Decker, a Pittsburg resident, showed up for an informal reunion with friends who got to know each other while working at San Franciscobased Levi Strauss & Co. The Englander was their haunt because all of them once lived nearby.
“This was a rendezvous,” Decker said. “Today, I drove 35 miles to get here. That’s what this place means.”
His co-worker, Marty Newman, rescued a bit of personal history from the bar wall: a plaque recognizing him for having sunk 75 beers at the establishment.
“It was a badge of honor,” the 55-year-old Newman said. “Whenever I came in here with friends, I would bring them over to the wall and show them the plaque.”
Tyrone Sullivan, 63, sat alone at the bar. He said he has patronized the Englander every day for as long as he can remember.
“It’s my neighborhood bar,” said Sullivan, who lives four blocks away. “I am not sure where I will go now.”
Nearby, Phil Salaices, the nephew of Cheryl Thies, was standing on a chair, carefully taking down scarves celebrating English football teams that were pinned to ceiling beams.
“I still can’t believe it,” Salaices said, carefully folding one of the scarves. “When they told me they
were closing, I just said, ‘Are you kidding? This is your business.’ It’s sad.”
About 25 people work at the Englander, Rod Thies said. But over the past few weeks, folks have been quitting in dribs and drabs, knowing they will be out of a job anyway because the place will soon close.
The business also has cut back on the menu, which once featured shepherd’s pie, bangers and mash, and fish and chips, a nod to British native Jot Mangat, who launched the Englander in November 1997.
“I have been here since day one,” said bartender Roy Childress, 62, a coowner and the brother of Cheryl Thies. “I heard about the bar opening, came down and put in an application. I got a job and stayed.”
Childress is not sure what he will do next. He hopes to find another bartending gig somewhere.
The Thies family took over the business in 2014. Their lease, which expired Dec. 31, included a fiveyear renewal option. The landlord opted not to renew it, 70-year-old Rod Thies said. No reason was given.
Cheryl Thies, 69, said the couple plan to retire.
Along with Kiwanis, Rotary International and about two dozen other groups regularly gathered at the Englander, which has three banquet rooms as well as the bar. A painting class was offered each Monday night, and comedian Michael Booker did monthly shows.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office annually picked the spot for its holiday party.
The pub will officially close Friday. But there will be a farewell party — call it a wake of sorts — on the premises Saturday, when items from the business will be for sale. It begins at 2 p.m.
“It’s definitely the end of an era,” said waitress Kirsten Casillas, who has worked at the Englander five years. “It’s really sad when any business closes. But it’s especially sad when it’s a family-owned one in San Leandro because we are a really close community.”