The Gael Pub To Close On UES After 14 Years In Business

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A popular Upper East Side Irish pub will close this weekend after 14 years in business, owners said.

The Gael Pub on Third Avenue near East 83rd Street will serve its last pints on Sunday, May 26, business owners announced on social media. While owners didn't specify exactly why the business is closing, a message to customers hinted that they were forced out of the space.

"Apparently we can’t stand in the way of progress as they add yet another high rise to the UES skyline. It’s been a great journey & we must thank all of our customers, most of whom are friends now as a result, for supporting us over the years," business owners said in a message posted to the bar's Facebook page.

Gael Pub customers and former staff members took to social media to lament the loss of another neighborhood bar on the Upper East Side.

"Very sad news, without this place my years on the UES would have been so much less fun, shapes round the pool table, crazy tabs, belting out oasis and many more happy memories," customer Adam Clark said on Facebook.

The Gael Pub and its neighboring buildings were targeted by development firms Naftali Group and Rockefeller Group in a 2018 land grab on Third Avenue. The six low-rise building on Third Avenue can form a development site that can yield a 250,000-square-foot tower with mixed residential and commercial uses and retail frontage on both Third Avenue and East 83rd Street, according to reports from last year.