Old Northeast Tavern is returning to 201 7th Avenue North in St. Petersburg. Co-owners Bob Wareham and Mark Brindle, who have run the neighborhood bar at that address since 2008, plan to reopen later in 2026 after nearly two years of closure and reconstruction. The rebuild adds a full liquor bar — the first in the tavern's 20-year history — updated kitchen equipment, and a new food menu that includes burgers and fries. Old Northeast Pizza, previously a separate operation at the same address, is being folded into one larger dining room.
The closure was not a permanent shuttering but a renovation that stretched. Wareham and Brindle used the downtime to substantially upgrade the physical plant: new kitchen equipment, an expanded menu, and the addition of a full liquor license that converts what had been a beer-and-wine operation for the first time. Permitting delays pushed the reopening beyond the operators' original timeline, per their Instagram post. The full sequence — from the renovation's scope to the specific reviews that caused delays — is documented on the operator's website.
The building at 201 7th Avenue North has been a commercial address since at least 1925, when it served as a pharmacy. The structure predates much of the surrounding Old Northeast neighborhood, one of St. Petersburg's earliest residential grids — a pattern of bungalows and wide streets running north from downtown toward Tampa Bay. Neighborhood-facing commercial anchors in the Old Northeast are limited; the tavern at 7th Avenue North has served as one of the few walkable evening destinations for district residents across two decades.
Wareham and Brindle's tenure at the address spans 18 years, covering the 2008 recession, St. Pete's downtown redevelopment cycle, and now a two-year rebuild. The tavern itself carries a 20-year operational history at the location. The renovation doesn't change ownership or concept — it expands what both can offer.
The addition of a full liquor bar is the most operationally significant change of the rebuild. For a tavern that spent two decades as beer-and-wine, the upgrade opens cocktail programming that wasn't previously possible and broadens the revenue profile of the evening operation. The operators have not detailed the beverage program beyond confirming the license.
The integration of Old Northeast Pizza into the main dining room is a structural change as well. The pizza operation, previously a distinct concept at the same address, merges with the tavern into a single, larger dining room — an arrangement that simplifies operations and creates a more unified food-and-drink program under one roof. Burgers and fries, new to the menu, round out a broader kitchen offer than the tavern carried before its closure.
No specific opening date has been announced; the operators describe the return as planned for later in 2026. The full account of the building's history — from its 1925 pharmacy origins through the permitting process that shaped the current rebuild — is on the operator's site. Wareham and Brindle have run 7th Avenue North for nearly two decades; they plan to be back before the year is out.
