Longtime brewpub John Harvard’s will soon close its Cambridge outpost

it's a bummer -- only CBC remains from the early days. Had many memorable nights down in that basement. The beer/food -- always a bit hit or miss. All things must pass.

 

Very sad but also not surprising considering they didn't benefit from nor adapt to the growth in craft beer. That's very expensive real estate. I can't say I ever had a bad time at JH, but it's also not surprising that it's going.

 

Same, even when the place was new. For a time though, was a great spot for beer in Harvard Square

 

Unfortunately most of my visits to JH’s we’re back in the late 90s/early 00s when smoking was still allowed. It had good hoppy beer for the era, but I always wondered whether it was worth it to endure that smoky hell-hole basement.

I dunno if a brewery or pub can make it there, the real estate is way too expensive. And at least I’m not looking forward to more $8+ tulips of standard beer.

 

It's kind of interesting, the Framingham location is doing quite well. (as far as I can tell) They have some great beers, besides the usual ones, the past couple brewers have really worked on the IPA program, and they are, if not world class, they're more than satisfactory.
I only ate at the Cambridge one once or twice, and probably had a burger, which is hard to screw up, but I've always liked the food at Framingham. Sure, there's been a couple off nights here and there, but I've never had anything that would make me not return. I wonder if the least in Cambridge is coming up and they want to increase it or something... I don't know how business is there...