Downtown Reading will lose two longtime restaurants this month as one shifts away from full-service dining to focus on private events and another prepares to close after four decades in business.
Saucony Creek Franklin Station Brewpub, 100 S. Seventh St., served its last restaurant customers Aug. 1. The owners plan to transition the restored former Reading Railroad passenger station into an event venue.
Lang Restaurant, 22 N. Sixth St., announced it will close Aug. 30, ending a 40-year run that began in 1985 when the Huynh family opened Hong Thanh at 10th and Chestnut streets before later relocating downtown.
Lang Restaurant, 22 N. Sixth St., will close Aug. 30, ending a 40-year run that began in 1985 when the Huynh family opened Hong Thanh at 10th and Chestnut streets before later relocating downtown. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
In a social media announcement, Saucony Creek said the decision followed a lengthy evaluation of the restaurant’s performance.
“This was not an easy choice,” management wrote. “When we opened the location in 2018, the business climate, energy and foot traffic in downtown Reading was much different than it is today.”
The statement cited fewer downtown events, the effects of remote work and the loss of major employers as factors that made it difficult to sustain a full-service restaurant.
Restaurant manager Shaun Miller said the business never fully recovered after opening just months before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID hit, and it changed a lot of things,” Miller said, noting surrounding businesses closed and office workers never fully returned. “The foot traffic stopped and it kind of left us in this black-hole area here where the business never really kept going after COVID.”
Saucony Creek Franklin Station Brewpub mangers said the business never fully recovered after opening just months before the COVID-19 pandemic. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
Miller said the owners, Robert Kline, Kirby Powell and Terry Lorah, invested heavily in keeping the restaurant operating, including installing an innovative heated outdoor dining system during the pandemic.
“They really wanted to see this through and give something to the city,” he said. “We hung on as best we could, and it’s just been a slowly declining business.”
Miller said he also believes public perception of downtown discouraged potential customers.
“Everyone that comes here says they absolutely love it,” Miller said. “The issue has been to get people to come here because of their fear or preconceived notions about the city. That has been the biggest hurdle for us as a company in this location.”
Although daily restaurant service is ending, Miller said the transition to an event venue is already generating interest.
The Saucony Creek Franklin Station Brewpub will resume operations as an event center. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
“We’re just going to focus on events,” he said. “It’s literally something that we can do to optimize the space because the space is beautiful. It’s a historic site.”
The venue, to be known as Franklin Station by Saucony Creek, will host weddings, reunions, showers, corporate functions and other private gatherings. Miller said bookings already extend into 2027.
“I think there’s a great opportunity here for people to come see the train station and have an event here,” he said.
City Managing Director Jack Gombach thanked both restaurants for their investment in Reading and said the administration remains optimistic about downtown’s business climate despite the closures.
“The city is just incredibly grateful for their investment, their commitment, their work in the city and the role that they played in helping make Reading vibrant,” Gombach said.
He said the city continues working to make it easier for businesses to open through improvements to the permitting process and partnerships with financial institutions to provide special loan programs for downtown entrepreneurs.
“We’re obviously very sad, but we want to look at this as a potential positive,” he said. “How do we help somebody else write their next story?”
Gombach said Saucony Creek’s new business model will continue bringing visitors downtown, although he did not address Miller’s comments regarding people’s preconceived notions of the city.
Frankie, the mascot at the Saucony Creek Franklin Station Brewpub, greets patrons to the restored former Reading Railroad passenger station. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
“They’re still going to be a contributing member of our business community,” he said. “They’re still going to be able to attract people downtown and help people experience the city.”
Representatives of Lang did not respond to requests for comment.
In announcing the restaurant’s closing, the Huynh family reflected on four decades of serving Reading families.
“When our family first opened at our original location on 10th and Chestnut streets, with 10 tables back in 1985, we had a simple dream: to share our love of our family’s and culture’s food and create a warm and unique gathering place,” the family wrote. “What we didn’t fully realize back then was just how deeply you all would become a part of our family.”
The family thanked generations of customers and employees, inviting the community to return before the restaurant’s final day of service on Aug. 30.