Friday will mark last call at Bert's

Popular hangout on Sullivan's Island set to close its doors

SULLIVAN's ISLAND — When Tim Holbrook first set foot inside Bert's Bar in 1982, it looked exactly the same as it does now.

Well, almost.

"The pool table was on the other side of the room," the island resident said, "but that's the only difference."

After serving what Holbrook deems "the best food on the island" for more than two decades, the landmark restaurant, bar and music venue will plate its last Bert's burger Friday.

"It's heartbreaking, but we're trying to plan a New Orleans-style funeral down Middle Street on Friday night to celebrate what this place has meant to us," he said.

The beloved bar took a hit when the town approved a smoking ban in July 2006, the effect of the ordinance shifting the majority of its business outside to the parking lot, owner Tim Runyon said.

But it's an increase in rent that is sending Bert's Bar to its grave.

"The smoking ban was contributory," Runyon said, "but even without it, I would not have been able to afford the building anymore."

Runyon's lease expires Jan. 15, and according to him, rent for the 2209 Middle St. building has increased fourfold.

"Up until recently, there was an effort to negotiate an extension to the lease," said Robert Dodds, a lawyer repre- senting the building's owner, although ultimately an agreement could not be reached.

Dodds said there are no immediate plans for the building once the bar closes.

Before it was Bert's Bar, the building between Station 22 and Off the Hook was a pharmacy run by the Wurth- man family, who still own the property. The family then turned it into a bar before Runyon took over the lease 22 years ago.

"We're closing Friday, so I have time to take everything down and pack it up," Runyon said. "It's like moving from a house — there's a lot of stuff."

But it's the end of the Friday night fish fries, great music on the weekends and Judy Runyon's soup, not the Pittsburgh Steelers posters and retro memorabilia above the bar, that Bert's regulars are lamenting.

"People have an emotional connection to this place," Holbrook said. "Where else can you look down the bar and see a doctor, a scientist and a carpenter — all regulars — having a conversation? Bert's is part of what makes Sullivan's Island, Sullivan's Island."

Reach Abi Nicholas at 937-5524 or anicholas@postandcourier.com.