After nearly 30 years in business, an iconic North Penn area bar and restaurant is closing its doors for good next month.
Via Marconi Sports Bar and Pizza Pub — aka The Pub — announced on its Facebook page that it will have very limited seating up to its closing date, set for May 15. The post has garnered more than 150 comments of well wishes and memories.
“It’s with great sadness that we announce our last day to serve you all will be May 15th. Please understand that until then, due to staffing and product issues, we will have very limited seating and a very limited menu. We will work as hard as ever to help you enjoy your last few experiences here but please know that your food may take longer than usual. Thanks for a whole lot of great years and for helping to make ‘The Pub’ the best place in town! Until we meet again,” stated the Facebook post.
Last May, Via Marconi Pizza Pub Inc. was awarded a $40,000 grant from the Redevelopment Authority of Montgomery County through the MontcoStrong 2021 Pennsylvania Hospitality Industry Recovery Program.
In 2019, Via Marconi Pizza Pub was ordered to pay more than $360,000 in back overtime wages and liquidated damages to 25 employees, following an investigation by the United States Department of Labor’s Work and Hour Division. The employees failed to receive overtime pay between July 2, 2016, and March 23, 2019, according to the judgement.
“This employer failed to pay overtime to kitchen staff who regularly worked 46 to 73 hours per week. Our work ensures that employees are paid all the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director James Cain, in Philadelphia.
“This case should remind other employers to evaluate their own practices to ensure they comply with the law. Violations and penalties like those in this case can be avoided.”
In addition to the judgement, WHD also assessed a $21,398 civil penalty against Via Marconi Pizza Pub, The judgement also prohibits further violations of the provisions stated in the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to the release.
It is rumored that P.J. Whelihan’s Pub and Restaurant will be taking over the space at the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center, however we have not been able to confirm at this time.
PJW Restaurant Group — the South Jersey holding company founded by Bob and Donna Platzer in 1983 whose portfolio includes 26 various brands of P.J. Whelihan’s Pub and Restaurant, The Pour House, The ChopHouse Grille, and Central Taco and Tequila across eastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey — was purchased in December by New York investment firm Garnett Station Partners, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Garnett Station Partners’ portfolio includes equity partnerships and credit investments in businesses like P.F. Chang’s, Mambo Seafood, Twin Peaks, Fat Tuesday, Checkers, and Planet Fitness, per the article.
In 2012, Tom Vickerman, who at the time had owned Via Marconi Pizza Pub since 2007 and told Towamencin supervisors it has been in business for more than 25 years, took his business out of Towamencin Township Shopping Village, and found a new home at the burgeoning Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center at 190 Forty Foot Road in Hatfield Township alongside Lowe’s, Autozone and ShopRite. He opened by Summer 2012 with a 250-person indoor capacity, plus 90 more outdoors.
He told The Reporter that year the reason for the move to the Clemens Family Corporation-owned shopping center: “Considering the condition of the mall itself and the lack of any foot traffic whatsoever, I think the location we’re looking at moving to is far superior.”
Via Marconi Sports Bar and Pizza Pub will be closed Monday and Tuesday, and open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Friday and Saturday hours are 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., with the kitchen closing at 10 p.m.
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