Mid-Atlantic brewpub chain Iron Hill Brewery has closed three locations, the company announced Wednesday.
One of the shuttered locations was Iron Hill’s flagship brewpub in Newark, Delaware, its first location, according to the Newark Post. The company also closed its brewpubs in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, and Voorhees, New Jersey. All three spaces closed Wednesday, September 10.
Iron Hill, which was founded in 1996, was the fourth-largest pub brewery in the country by volume in 2024, according to data from the Brewers Association (BA). Its output was flat at 13,750 barrels of beer last year, which followed a slightly down year in 2023 (-2%), but strong double-digit growth in 2022 and 2021 (+36% and +41%, respectively).
Trimming Iron Hill’s footprint “is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to adapt to a changing business landscape so they can focus on strengthening their long-term growth and success,” a spokesperson told Brewbound.
“While they are closing a few locations, this is truly part of a larger growth story in order to position Iron Hill for long-term success,” the spokesperson continued.
All three shuttered locations produced beer on site. Iron Hill is “still working on a plan” for their brewing equipment, according to the spokesperson.
Iron Hill’s remaining 16 locations are spread across Delaware (Rehoboth Beach, Wilmington), Georgia (Atlanta), New Jersey (Maple Shade), Pennsylvania (Exton, Hershey, Huntingdon Valley, Lancaster, Lehigh Valley, Media, Newtown, North Wales, Philadelphia, West Chester) and South Carolina (Columbia, Greenville).
It is unclear how many employees were affected by the closures and if they will be offered positions at other Iron Hill locations. The company declined to comment.
In the press release, CEO Mark Kirke, who has held the title since January, thanked Iron Hill’s staff and patrons for their support over the years.
“We’re proud of the strong relationships we’ve built with our guests over the years and incredibly grateful for their loyalty,” he said. “None of this would be possible without our dedicated teammates, who have made Iron Hill a place where great beer, great food and genuine hospitality come together. We look forward to welcoming you to enjoy any of our other 16 open restaurants.”
Brewpubs accounted for 6.6% of all craft beer by volume in 2024, according to the BA. The country’s 3,552 brewpubs produced a combined 1.5 million barrels of beer last year, according to the trade group, which defines brewpubs as craft breweries that sell at least 75% of their volume on-site and offer significant food service.
For the first time since 2010, brewpub closings (189) outpaced openings (168) in 2024. Despite that, the number of brewpubs climbed 1.4% year-over-year (YoY), the second-largest increase in brewery classes of trade behind regional craft breweries, which increased 8.6% YoY, according to the BA.
These gains may not be solely due to new breweries opening. In the case of brewpubs, taprooms converting to brewpubs by adding food service may contribute to the growth.
Iron Hill’s business model differs slightly from traditional brewpubs in that the company also distributes beer to more than 700 retailers in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, according to its website. In 2021, it opened a production facility in Exton, Pennsylvania, to boost supply beyond what individual brewpubs could produce.
Iron Hill’s growth in the past decade has come in part as a result of investment from A&M Capital Opportunities. When the deal was made in 2016, the brewpub chain had 11 locations, a number that reached as high as 20, including the former Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, brewpub, which closed in October 2024.
Little information has been made available about driving factors behind this week’s closings, but co-founder Mark Edelson told the Newark City Council last year the brewpub’s traffic had declined significantly, according to the Newark Post.
“It really started with COVID[-19],” he said, per the newspaper. “COVID was terrible for the hospitality industry, and the hospitality industry continues to suffer from that. Load on top of that, we have the worst consumer downturn in the last 30 years right now.”
The Newark location struggled with parking for many years, according to the Newark Post. In 2019, the brewpub’s landlord converted its free parking lot, which had been reserved for Iron Hill patrons, to a pay-per-hour lot open to the public.