A longtime North Raleigh sports bar has closed after a family illness
A North Raleigh sports bar will miss March Madness for the first time in a decade after closing earlier this year.
The longtime neighborhood bar and restaurant Leesville Tap Room closed its doors for good in late January. The restaurant has been owned by husband and wife Mike and Marilyn Allard since 2014.
The restaurant abruptly announced the closure on Jan. 29 with a Facebook post and a sign taped to the bar’s front door.
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are closed until further notice,” the post reads. “We appreciate your kindness and patience as we work through this.”
In a phone interview, Marilyn Allard said an illness in the family led to the restaurant’s closing.
“It was very much a family-owned business,” Allard said. “My husband and I bought it in October 2014. We ran it with our two sons, who were the manager and assistant manager. We enjoyed the restaurant and meeting our customers.....We did everything we possibly could to stay open....It’s a painful, sad story, but it’s one that happens to family-owned businesses all over.”
Owning Leesville Tap Room was a retirement dream for the Allards, who have been married 51 years and met at N.C. State. While winding down their careers, they bought the restaurant, which had been founded in 2009.
Their iteration of Leesville Tap Room became more of a sports bar, with pennants of ACC teams on the walls. The weeks around the ACC Tournament and March Madness were typically the busiest of the year.
“We always wanted to own a restaurant and always liked going to sports bars, so we decided we wanted a sports bar,” Allard said.
The restaurant served versions of classic American bar staples, with grilled burgers, crispy fried snacks and sandwiches. The Allards added breakfast service when they took over as well.
Like many Triangle restaurants, Allard said the COVID pandemic years were difficult for Leesville Tap Room.
“Everything was good until COVID,” Allard said. “We made it, though, and made it through — but certainly COVID made an impact.”
The Leesville Tap Room space is already listed on the property management site for the Leesville Towne Centre shopping center, putting the restaurant at 5,700 square feet. A “for lease” sign also appears in the restaurant’s window.
Allard said she wanted to thank the bar’s community of regulars and the Leesville neighbors who often stopped in.
“We enjoyed owning the restaurant and hated to see it close, but unfortunately it did,” said Allard.
