After 17 years of running Hatfield Borough’s Hattricks Sports Bar & Grill out of the historic Hatfield Hotel building at 64 E. Lincoln Ave., Bob Weimar is hanging up his apron.
"I’m 57 years old and I’m done. I am,” he said. "I put a lot into this in the last two years – new equipment and a new building. It’s time to move on and let someone else do good with it.”
The bar and grill owner announced on Facebook this week the sale of his 1.2-acre parcel, listed at $1.3 million, which comes complete with liquor license, the building with its new outdoor patio and new 30-foot by 50-foot heated entertainment building with seven 10-foot roll-up garage doors, and the building that sits at the rear of the property that was a former-car-wash-turned-storage rental units.
The sale also comes with "good will and all equipment,” per Weimar’s post.
Hattricks remains in operation, however, and Weimar intends to sell it as an operating business to the new owner. The parcel is zoned C-Commercial Bar or Taproom, per Montgomery County land records.
The property itself was once the Hatfield Hotel. It became Butera’s Restaurant in 1972 and continued to be a popular eatery and car wash for two decades. The Butera family sold it to DAW Hatfield Inc., owned by Deborah and William Feichthaler, for $470,000 in October 2000, per land records. "It was then DeBill’s, from the same people who own Debbie’s (Place) in Warminster,” Weimar said.
SL Properties LLC purchased it in 2003 for $335,000 and held onto it for two years before selling it to Schmoxy’s Real Estate LLC for $400,000 in 2005, per land records. "When Schmoxy’s bought it, they tried to do a restaurant here,” Weimar said. Two years later, he and his father — who passed away from cancer in 2019 — bought the bar together for $500,000. They also owned Hatt’s Too in Telford, but Weimar said it did not make it through the pandemic.
"COVID hurt us because of the nonsense the Governor pulled. I understand why they did what they did, but I needed a $300,000 loan from PSBA to stay alive,” he said. "And when Hatfield Borough waited until 2021 to start the bridge in the front of my place, they closed the bridge and closed all three entrances to get to this place. They crushed us.”
Weimar said their sign was taken down for eight months, and the bridge took twice as long to complete. "It cost us about $400,000 in business,” he said. "A lot of people thought we were out of business.”
Luckily, he said, he has a lot of good customers, even dedicated ones who have shown up almost daily for 17 years. "Our dart players, our pool teams, they keep this place alive,” he said. "The bands somewhat help, but a lot of people are still afraid to come out and see bands in some places. That’s the nature of the beast.”
Hattricks, he said, was "the happening place,” especially the first nine years. It was all about pleasing the customers, he said. Before Hattricks opened, it needed a name. Weimar reached out to his clientele and announced a contest to name the bar. The winner, Jim "Poppa” Kinee, also drew the logo of a rabbit in a hat with two darts.
A hat trick in darts, Weimar said, is three bullseyes in a row.
Hiring former Lans-Bowl employees
In recent years, Weimar added the entertainment building to his patio to transform the bar into an indoor/outdoor venue. "You don’t have to worry about getting rained on. It has its uses,” he said. "It’s where we put all the bands at.”
Yoga with Michelle of True North You will also be starting yoga in the backroom on Sundays at 11 a.m.., starting Sept. 24. Perhaps even goat yoga, he added.
Weimar attributed his staff with the success he has had over the past 17 years.
The previous manager "worked with me for nine years. She was a great manager, and used to be the manager at (Lans-Bowl),” Weimar said. "When that burnt down, I put the message out to employees to come over and have a drink and see us. We were fortunate enough to get employees from there to work here.”
So what will be their fate when Hattricks sells?
"They want to work here still. There are some guys trying to buy it right now. But whoever comes here gets a turnkey operation,” Weimar said. "I’m starting to open Thursday and Friday during the day again, and getting back to building up Happy Hour again. I want for whoever buys this to succeed. I don’t want them to fail,” he said. "I set this up to succeed.”
Weimar also said his bar and grill is spic-and-span. "We’ve always been a clean place,” he said. "The health department comes here, and not any violations. … Nobody wants to go into a place with dirty bathrooms or dirty kitchens.”
Hatfield Borough 'business-friendly'
Weimar, who was formerly involved with Red Stallion in Horsham, said his father was part of the reason for buying the bar those 17 years ago. "I don’t regret it at all. This has been a good run at this place,” he said. "I don’t want to let it go. I put my heart and soul into this place.”
The location of his bar and grill does not bother Weimar; he cherished how Hatfield Borough is a quaint, small town. "It is doing things to make it business friendly, like the car show,” he said. "The new management at the borough has been doing a great job.”
Just as the town moves forward, Weimar knows it is his time too. "I will be sad when somebody buys it, but everybody has to move on sooner or later,” he said. "I’m happy for the time I had here and the staff I had here, and the people that come here.”
According to Weimar’s post, Matt Titus is handling all correspondence for Hattricks' sale, financing, and questions on the parcel, and can be contacted at (609) 389-8585.
