Southside Tavern In Quincy Closes Its Doors

QUINCY—Southside Tavern in Quincy, a sports bar located at 73 Liberty Street, has shut down as of Saturday after over a decade of serving the community.

"With an extremely heavy heart we announce the final closing of Southside Tavern, Quincy," the business wrote as a caption of an Instagram video showing a padlock being placed on the door of the bar. "To all of our beloved patrons, thank you for the ENDLESS love and support throughout the years."

The bar has faced its challenges in the past few years, including a criminal gambling case involving its owner and threats of being displaced by the property owner.

According to a press release from the state's attorney general's office, in 2018, the owner of Southside Tavern, John Manning IV of Marshfield, pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to charges of organizing and promoting illegal gambling, registration of bets, delivering and receiving for the purpose of gambling, conspiracy, using a phone to take bets, and money laundering in connection with an illegal sports betting ring run out of the bar. The press release states that illegal bets were taken from hundreds of gamblers through sports betting websites run by an offshore casino.

Manning was ordered to forfeit $422,992 in cash, serve two years probation, pay a $50,000 fine, and close the restaurant for the month of September, after which it reopened and remained open until now.

Despite managing to remain open following the conviction, further challenges arose last year when the owner of the 73 Liberty Street property told the city he wanted to demolish the building and replace it with a six-story residential development with 48 units and 71 parking spaces on the first and second floors. The proposal threatened the bar's ability to remain open in that location.

It is still unclear whether the bar's closure is due to plans to build the six-story residential development, which were proposed at a meeting led by Ward 4 City Councilor Brian Palmucci on November 6, 2019. City records show that the last meeting in relation to this proposal was a Zoning Board of Appeals Public Hearing on August 25.

Although the Quincy location has permanently shut down, Southside Tavern maintains a location at 941 Washington Street in South Braintree, which opened in 2012 and appears to remain in business.