Former Pour House to close on Valentine’s Day

A 20-year Fort Worth love story will come to an end this year on Valentine’s Day. That’s when the Trinity River Tap House, formerly known as the Pour House, will close its doors.

Eric Tschetter, the owner and manager of the Tap House, announced the closing on his Facebook page.

“Business has just gotten too damn competitive on 7th street and it is not showing signs of slowing down,” Tschetter writes. “But fear not, loves. Parting doesn't have to be such sweet sorrow. We’re going to close this thing out with a bang.”

Tschetter goes on to say that there will still be Super Bowl and Fat Tuesday celebrations, both always big things at the Tap House and the Pour House before it, and that the Valentine’s closing will be special.

“We can't imagine a more romantic Valentine’s date than to spend the holiday hanging out with us one last time,” he writes. “Hell, we may even light a candle or two.”

Tschetter and fellow TCU grad Scott Priesmeyer opened the Pour House in downtown Fort Worth on Halloween 1995, when they were both in their 20s. It became popular with the downtown lunch crowd, and was a busy after-work spot as well. Tschetter was usually at the restaurant, visiting tables, handing out complimentary cookies as diners munched nachos or burgers and quaffed beers.

At the end of 2008, after fighting with two different landlords to keep the downtown space, Tschetter had to close. He reopened in the larger West Seventh space on Halloween 2009. He’d still get loyal customers that would drive from downtown, but he acknowledged in a 2012 DFW.com profile that he was getting a different crowd at the West Seventh space.

The ever-growing area West 7th area had already seen some restaurants, such as Bailey’s Prime Plus steakhouse and Delaney’s Irish Pub, close before the Pour House made the move.

“I'm surprised that more places haven't closed down, because there are so many places that have opened, " Tschetter said in 2012. "I am struggling. I have to have a lot of people in here. It's a big place - 12,000 square feet is a big place.... Would I move into this location now? No way. There's too much down here.”

The Pour House survived what Tschetter called the worst moment of his career: On Dec. 10, 2009, less than two months after the Pour House reopened, an off-duty police officer named Jesus Cisneros and several other were officers were celebrating a colleague's birthday there. Cisneros, it was later learned in court proceedings, drank eight beers and four shots of liquor during the party and left the bar about 2:25 a.m. He broadsided Sonia Baker's PT Cruiser at 76 mph in a city-issued SUV at an intersection in southwest Fort Worth. Baker, a 27-year-old mother, was killed.

Baker's family sued the Pour House, with lawyer Jeff Rasansky saying that they filed to hold such establishments accountable for overserving patrons and "placing profits ahead of safety." The Pour House was thrust into an unfamiliar harsh spotlight.

The suit was dismissed in March 2011 after the bar and its affiliates agreed to pay almost a $600,000 settlement, according to Star-Telegram reports. Tschetter maintains that the bar did everything it could that night. And no one from the Pour House was disciplined by TABC.

In 2015, Tschetter changed the name of the Pour House to the Trinity River Tap House, reflecting both its location near the Trinity and its increased emphasis on craft beer (its 75-tap wall was a wonder to behold). Some additions were made to the menu and the interior got a makeover, but the Pour House spirit still remained.

Contacted via Facebook about the closing, Tschetter merely said, “It’s time.” He added that his other restaurant, Pour House Dallas, better-known as PhD, is going strong in Dallas’ Bishop Arts District area and that he will focus his efforts on that restaurant.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Former Pour House to close on Valentine’s Day."