E-Malt.com News article: USA, DE: Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant abruptly closes flagship brewpub in Newark, two more restaurants in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant abruptly closed its flagship, original brewpub in downtown Newark on Sept. 10. It had been in operation for nearly 30 years, Delaware Online reported.

Two other restaurants in the brewery's 16-restaurant chain also were on the chopping block, closing for good: its Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, and Voorhees, New Jersey, locations.

The company said in a Sept. 10 statement that the closing of the Newark restaurant, which has been at 147 E. Main St. since 1996, along with the other sites, is "part of the company’s ongoing efforts to adapt to a changing business landscape while focusing on strengthening its long-term growth and success."

It was Newark's lone brewery.

Iron Hill's remaining restaurants include two others in Delaware: the 22-year-old site on Wilmington's Riverfront, which received a more than $1 million facelift in 2019, and the Rehoboth Beach location, operating since 2018.

"This decision was not made lightly," Mark Kirke, CEO of Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, said in a statement regarding the closings. He said the company, which has expanded to open restaurants in Georgia and South Carolina in recent years, would continue to evolve and strengthen its brand.

Iron Hill, which poured its first beer and served its first dish on Nov. 14, 1996, helped usher in a new era of sit-down restaurants on Main Street, before spots like Home Grown Cafe opened four years later.

The brewery was a finer dining experience than most of Main Street was used to – a place where both professors and students (and their parents) could co-exist.

Founded by Kevin Finn, Mark Edelson and Kevin Davies, Iron Hill grew over the next three decades into a successful restaurant chain. Portions of the company have been sold to outside investors over the years.

An Iron Hill spokeswoman said Finn, Edelson and Davies are current board members, but only one of the men is still actively involved in the business. She did not name which one.

The statement said the closures were part of the company’s "ongoing efforts to adapt to a changing business landscape while focusing on strengthening its long-term growth and success."

Kirke added, "While we are closing a few locations, this is truly part of a larger growth story — we are evolving, strengthening our brand, and positioning Iron Hill for long-term success."

"I can't believe it," said former Newark Mayor Vance Funk upon learning of the closure. "I really liked going in there."

Funk has been dining at Iron Hill for its entire near-30-year run. While surprised at its closing, he said it seemed business had dropped in recent years, attributing it to the cost of parking in the restaurant's rear lot and the sale of portions of the company to investors by the original three owners.

"It just hasn't been as crowded," says Funk, who dines on Main Street two to three times per week. "Being the original location, I thought they'd try harder to keep it going."

Limited parking at the Newark restaurant has long been a concern for customers and Iron Hill's founding partners who included Kevin Davies, Kevin Finn and Mark Edelson.

Edelson told The Newark Post in 2016 the partners thought about moving out of the site where they first began the Iron Hill chain when the lease was up because of Newark's parking crunch.

“We’re considering our other options outside Newark because it doesn’t appear the city is addressing the parking situation,” he said.

Gianmarco Martuscelli, who has owned Klondike Kate's Restaurant & Saloon across the street from Iron Hill for the past decade, called the closure "very concerning."

"They have been there long-term. They're not some fly-by-night company," he said.

Martuscelli, who also owns La Casa Pasta in Glasgow and Chesapeake Inn in Chesapeake City, Maryland, said lunch business has been particularly difficult to attract for sit-down restaurants on Main Street, even when the town is flooded with University of Delaware students.

"There are just so many grab-and-go options here. You can go to Chipotle, Snap Pizza or El Diablo. And that lunch business can make or break you sometimes," he said.

Iron Hill came a year after a trio of Delaware craft beer pioneers got their start with brewpubs, including Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Rehoboth Beach, Stewart's Brewing Co. in Bear and Brandywine Brewing Co. in Greenville.

In 2016, Finn reflected on Iron Hill's opening to Delaware Online/The News Journal.

He said Iron Hill's food – not the beer that has won stacks of medals at Great American Beer Festival – is what made the original location a success.

After all, Main Street in Newark didn't have any of the more upscale dining options it has today, like Caffé Gelato, Grain Craft Bar + Kitchen and Taverna. Back then, dive bars and sticky floors were a lot more common than slick dining rooms and buffed hardwood floors.

Even though it was located in the heart of the University of Delaware's campus, Iron Hill didn't draw from the undergraduate population. Instead, residents, professors and graduate students flocked in search of finer food options.

"We hit our mark in terms of selling beer, but it really exploded on the food side. We did double the food sales we expected," says Finn, 55, of West Chester, Pennsylvania. "I still remember the first day we opened and we had a line of college kids out the door. They came in and right away they knew it wasn't a place for undergrads.

"We are nationally and internationally recognized for our beer, but what brings people back is the food. That's what really sets us apart."

On the 20th anniversary of Iron Hill, Delaware beer historian John Medkeff Jr. recounted Iron Hill's Main Street debut. He had attended Newark Nite in 1996, stopping in front of where the original Iron Hill was being constructed.

A representative for the soon-to-open brewpub was out front under a canopy, handing out T-shirts and other tchotchkes, promoting what was a new idea to many: a brewpub serving fresh beers brewed only feet from the bar.

A few months later, Medkeff would be back for Iron Hill's grand opening that November, not knowing that he was in the first of what would become nearly 20 locations.

"It was a different world then. No one knew if it was going to work or not and no one knew what Iron Hill was going to become," says Medkeff, author of 2015's "Brewing in Delaware" ($21.99, Arcadia Publishing). "It was a really exciting time – sort of a new frontier, especially for Newark."


11 September, 2025