Popular Temple sports bar that closed is reopening as an upscale restaurant

A popular Temple University sports bar and dining spot will be reborn as The Peabody, an upscale causal restaurant.

The change is the result of a partnership between Temple and Glu Hospitality, which has several trendy night spots in Northern Liberties.

“We are repurposing this place to make it a higher-end restaurant, targeting diners, such as students, faculty, external partners and the local community,” said Lu Lu, an assistant professor in the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Temple University. “It will be a great place to showcase Temple. It’s really going to bring the whole community together.”

Temple’s Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management will use the restaurant to give students experience in the industry and to help ease the labor shortage that the industry is currently experiencing, Lu said.

“It will be a great educational resource for our students to get some hands on experience, even participating in the opening and for career development purposes,” Lu said.

Lu is serving as a consultant on the project.

The Peabody is named for a long-time dorm at Broad and Norris Temple that closed in 2017 and was demolished a year later. The Peabody restaurant is scheduled to open this fall.

The spot on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near Broad Street was previously known as The Draught (pronounced draft) Horse, and it featured several large screen televisions typically set on Temple sports, professional baseball, basketball, football or hockey games.

The Draught Horse closed Feb. 21, 2021, the restaurant’s 20th anniversary. It was owned by Frog Spring in Cape May, New Jersey, which operates several restaurants there. The business had been hurt by the pandemic and couldn’t agree on new lease terms with Temple, which owns the building.

The Draught Horse was frequented by Temple students, faculty, neighborhood residents, and people attending concerts and other events at the adjacent Liacouras Center on North Broad Street; and the AMC Broad Street 7 movie theater at Broad and Oxford Streets.

Glu Hospitality agreed to work with Temple to revive the space as something new. Glu operates Añejo, a Mexican-inspired restaurant and tequila bar, and Figo, which features Italian cuisine, both in Northern Liberties; and Izakaya by Yanaga, which offers Japanese fare in Fishtown.

Glu Hospitality and its public relations firm did not immediately return a call for comment.

According to Lu, discussions are ongoing between Temple and Glu Hospitality about exactly how the partnership will work.

“I think this is quite an exciting initiative,” Lu said. “From the university standpoint, we are really in need of an upscale casual dining facility. Draught Horse was sports bar. If we have formal events, we wouldn’t take them to a sports bar.”