CROWN HEIGHTS — A new bar opened in the neighborhood this week, bringing a long menu of craft beers to a renovated space on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Union Street.
The Union Street Pub officially opened at 835 Franklin Ave. in Crown Heights on Monday with 15 kinds of beer on tap, according to the bar’s online menu. Most of the beers at Union Street are priced between $5 and $8; one specialty Belgian beer is listed for $11.
The 61-seat pub is run by a team familiar with the local Brooklyn bar scene; co-owners Jacob Rabinowitz and Corey Noble previously managed Fourth Avenue Pub in Park Slope and Fulton Grand in Clinton Hill, they told the area community board last year when they first applied for a liquor license.
The new spot is one of three bars now open or opening soon on the Franklin Avenue block between Eastern Parkway and Union Street. Last January, the booze-and-dessert shop Butter & Scotch opened at 818 Franklin Ave. on the west side of the block. This year, another watering hole named Crow Bar hopes to open next to Butter & Scotch and directly opposite the Union Street Pub at the northwest corner of Union Street and Franklin Avenue.
Crow Bar faced criticism from the local Crown Heights Tenant Union during a liquor license hearing at Community Board 9 last week, with the group encouraging board members to vote down the bar’s plan; the board’s vote was split and will be reconsidered, the CB9 chairman said.
The same tenant group raised concerns about the Union Street Pub when they applied for a license last summer, saying the bar is part of a pattern of “successful, long-standing small businesses” being pushed out by landlords in favor of higher-end operations. The Union Street Pub replaced a former hair braiding shop.
Despite those concerns, CB9 ultimately approved the application and the State Liquor Authority granted the Union Street Pub their license on Feb. 24, records show.
During renovation, the bar uncovered a sign from a previous business at the location, Sung’s Discount, advertising “shoes, toy, bag, hat, wig” in bright block letters. The sign has been repainted and is now on display over the pub’s entrance.
