Cash in on Carol's: Notorious Uptown Dive Bar Can Be Yours for Less Than $250K

CHICAGO, IL - An Uptown Chicago bar that’s been a destination for dive bar lovers everywhere closed earlier this year and now the building is for sale for what TimeOut Chicago calls a “steal.”

Carol’s Pub, at 4659 N. Clark St., has been a “neighborhood fixture” since it opened in 1973. It has also been known to those from outside the Uptown/Ravenswood/Lincoln Square corridor who are looking for that last stop of the night.

A GoFundMe campaign that was started to save the Country/Western themed dive at the corner of Clark and Leland Avenue described it as a popular late night stop open until 5 a.m. as a place with “reasonably priced beverages, late night fun… and a matchmakers pocket.”

It closed at the end of September and the campaign netted just $725 of a $55,000 goal. It’s now on the market by Baird and Warner for $249,000, which is just $83 per square foot according to its listing.

According to TimeOut’s analysis, that’s “not too bad for a honky-tonk fixture.” The listing is for less than an average condo in that neighborhood.

Reports from the Chicago Tribune indicate the reason for the bar’s closing is that their liquor license was revoked by the Illinois Liquor Control Commission due to unpaid taxes.

The GoFundMe campaign, started by Amy Bashook of Chicago, indicated the bar’s owner “has gone out of her way to help people people in the community against the well being of her own business.”

“The late night (open till 4/5am) atmosphere would be lost forever if the establishment can't be reopened.”
Photo from listing

By Tim Moran (Patch Staff)