This summer, beer is returning to the central courtyard at the Princeton Shopping Center! (map) Triumph Brewpub is opening a ‘pop-up beer garden’ on Friday evenings from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. from June 6 through August 8. That’s just ten nights, and we’ve already missed one of them, so get on down there!
Old-timers will recall that this beer garden, pictured above, is at the site of the old ‘Clocktower Cabana‘, a tiki bar that operated out of ‘Main Street Bistro’. After 30 years at the Princeton Shopping Center, Main Street Bistro was bought by Fenwick Hospitality Group in 2016, who closed it down and transferred the liquor license to a new restaurant on Witherspoon Street. The Princeton Shopping Center has had no bar or restaurant serving alcohol ever since. Liquor licenses in New Jersey are extremely hard to get because of restrictive laws on alcoholic beverages. In 2023, NJ Governor Phil Murphy tried to advance a plan to eliminate restrictions on liquor licenses, but was blocked by Democratic lawmakers in the state assembly.
Princeton Shopping Center is also offering live music on Friday nights on the lawn in the central courtyard. This is the 40th year of their ‘Summer Concert Series’. The live music is open to all, but guests must be 21+ to enter the beer garden area.
Related links: (via princetonshoppingcenter.com)
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