EMMAUS, Pa. \u2013 A longstanding spot for beers, burgers, sandwiches and sports viewing has ended operations in the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n
The Emmaus location of Volpe\u2019s Sports Bar held its last day of operation on Saturday at 501 Broad St., according to an announcement on the business\u2019 Facebook page.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I would own a bar, especially after seeing what it was like growing up around the business,\u201d owner Fran Volpe said in the announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201c18 years ago, I decided to start a new business in Emmaus. My family was welcomed to Emmaus and always treated great by the Borough and community. I made so many great friends, had great employees and loyal customers. I am very proud of the number of organizations we have been able to sponsor, teams we could help and host meetings for, fundraisers, dine and donates\u2026 This business is a perfect example of how much one small business can help a local community. Make sure you support all your favorite local businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volpe opened the Emmaus location of Volpe\u2019s Sports Bar in 2008 at Broad and South Fifth streets in the borough.<\/p>\n
The establishment was a second location of the landmark sports bar, which Volpe\u2019s father \u2013 Robert Volpe \u2013 continues to operate at 1926 W. Tilghman St. in Allentown.<\/p>\n
Robert\u2019s late father, Americo Volpe, started what is now Volpe\u2019s Sports Bar in 1941 at the Tilghman Street site.<\/p>\n
The family-run establishment went by a couple of other monikers, including Volpe\u2019s West Side Lounge, over the decades, but it\u2019s operated as Volpe\u2019s Sports Bar since Robert took over operations in 1984.<\/p>\n
At the former Emmaus location, guests could choose from two different bars: a \u201cmodern day cigar bar\u201d that showcased the space\u2019s original bar dating back to the 1920s and the sports bar\u2019s \u201cmain bar\/dining room,\u201d a smoke-free space featuring 20 TVs and a pool table, according to the business\u2019 website.<\/p>\n
The Emmaus establishment offered more than a dozen rotating draft beers, over 50 bottle beer selections and a food menu featuring a wide array of appetizers, burgers, cheesesteaks, jumbo chicken wings, specialty fries and pierogies, soups, salads, sandwiches, wraps and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cVolpe\u2019s was built as a bar, primarily a drinking establishment and with the changing times, we need to change a lot of things to be successful today,\u201d Fran wrote in Sunday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought right now was a good time to close the doors and figure out what is next. Volpe\u2019s as it once was, won\u2019t be back in the same form, but I know some food business will do great at this location. I am not sure if I will be a part of that change or not, but THANK YOU to everyone who worked here, and every patron who stepped foot in this building.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within a few hours of its posting, Sunday\u2019s Facebook announcement had garnered more than 300 reactions and over 70 comments, primarily from individuals extending warm wishes to Fran and the Volpe\u2019s Emmaus team.<\/p>\n
\u201cBest of luck to you in the future!\u201d one person stated. \u201cWe loved spending time at Volpe\u2019s and made so many great memories there!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, man!\u201d another person commented. \u201cI\u2019ll miss this place. Tremendous friends and memories made here. Thanks, Fran!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes me so sad,\u201d another person wrote. \u201cFran and crew, thank you for being part of Emmaus for as long as you were. Many of us appreciate your sponsorship support and you were always willing to help. Here\u2019s to the next chapter, Fran and family and crew! Thank you!\u201d<\/p>\n
Fran noted that he had a lot of fun at the Emmaus location and \u201calways enjoyed seeing other people enjoy their time\u201d as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a great 2 decades, now it\u2019s time for the next chapter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EMMAUS, Pa. \u2013 A longstanding spot for beers, burgers, sandwiches and sports viewing has ended operations in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,3151,977,71509,71508,433,157,12629,71510],"class_list":{"0":"post-157999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-emmaus","12":"tag-food-and-dining","13":"tag-fran-volpe","14":"tag-landmark-sports-bar","15":"tag-lehigh-county","16":"tag-lehigh-valley","17":"tag-sports-bar","18":"tag-volpes-sports-bar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}