The Purple Pub is still soliciting applications for a new operator, according to the building’s owner, Mark Paresky. The Pub, located at 65 Spring St., closed indefinitely in October 2025 following the death of its operator, Thierry Breard, at 53.
“We’re looking for an operator who can respect the Pub’s history while opening its next chapter,” Paresky said in an interview with the Record. “We see it as a stewardship opportunity.”
The Pub was forced to close almost immediately upon Breard’s sudden passing in October because the bar’s nontransferrable liquor license was in his name.
Breard’s death and the Pub’s closure were immediately felt by the Town community. “As a senior, I expected to be able to go to the Pub a lot, and so it really feels like a part of senior year is missing,” Michael Pasko ’26 said in an interview with the Record.
To Pasko, the Pub represented an alternative venue for students to get to know one another outside of academics and the campus social scene. “The Pub was a last third space,” he said.
Mace Foehl ’85, who lives in Town, echoed Pasko’s sentiment about the importance of the Purple Pub. “Alums could always say, ‘Hey, let’s meet at the Pub,” she said. “I’ve played in an alumni golf tournament every year since graduation and without fail, we go to the Pub after. That’s gone now.”
The Pub opened in 1971 and was initially located on the corner of Spring Street and Bank Street. On March 29, 2007, a fire broke out in the building that housed the Purple Pub. The Pub’s plumbing and electrical systems suffered water damage during the fire, and the establishment was temporarily relocated for multiple years.
Paresky’s Williamstown Rentals purchased the Purple Pub name from the former owner and built a new building at 65 Spring Street for the Pub. Soon after the construction was finished, the Pub returned to Spring Street in September 2010, when Breard leased the space along with the Pub license in the new building.
Though the Pub’s new digs were jarring to some regulars, customers found that the charms of the original Pub remained. “When the new Pub opened, alums were bumming because they were saying it wasn’t the same,” Foehl said. “It wasn’t a little dive bar anymore … But it was still the Purple Pub. The good stuff carried on.”
Paresky wants the spirit of the institution to continue when the Pub reopens. “What’s exceedingly important to us is that the person who becomes the Pub’s operator understands how important it is to the town and campus,” he said. “Our goal is not just to reopen, but to reopen right. That’s why we put up an application to lease the space rather than a ‘for lease’ sign.”
Paresky is also focused on making sure that the Pub is an attractive business venture with reasonable rent for its new operator. “Although the rent was a fixed monthly price, the total cost of rent for the Purple Pub was generally between 6 and 7 percent of sales,” Paresky wrote to the Record. “We have not changed the rent rate.”
The new operator will have the same leasing arrangement as Breard. They will own and operate the restaurant and have full use of the Purple Pub name and branding in return for keeping the Pub’s history alive. Paresky is also looking for someone who will manage the space well. “In addition to being someone who cares about its history, we want the next operator of the Pub to have the operational excellence to run it as it should be run and even improve it,” Paresky said.
Even though no one has yet reached an agreement with Paresky to reopen the Purple Pub, students hope that the Pub’s atmosphere will be centered around connection when it eventually opens again. “I think we live in a world where it can be really tempting to not socialize with people and the Pub provided an awesome place for students to come together,” Pasko said. “I hope it’s similar to how it was before.”
Despite its focus on the College — from the name to the Ephs memorabilia on the walls — the Purple Pub also served as a place for students to interact with Town residents. “When I was a student, it would be a mix of Williams kids and local folks,” Foehl said.
Paresky further emphasized the Pub’s ability to bridge the town and gown divide. “The Pub was the connecting place between town and campus,” he said. “You had your home, work, [or] campus, and the Purple Pub as somewhere to meet people and feel truly relaxed,” he said. “I look forward to it being that again.”
The importance of the Purple Pub, according to Paresky, is best described by a quote from former Town Manager Peter Fohlin: “Williamstown without the Purple Pub is like a flagpole without a flag.”
