Meet Clubhouse, Georgetown’s New Grown-Up Replacement to Church Hall
This month, D.C. hospitality group Tin Shop flips its rowdy Georgetown beer hall Church Hall into a polished, all-day gathering spot called Clubhouse that transitions from a WiFi-enabled cafe by day to a 23-and-up bar at night.
Tin Shop (Franklin Hall, Penn Social, Astro Beer Hall, and TallBoy) opened wood-framed Church Hall in 2018 and attracted an instant collegiate following for its spiked slushies, liter-sized drafts, jumbo pretzels, tots, and Jenga (1070 Wisconsin Avenue NW). Its new chapter as Clubhouse goes live on Tuesday, August 9, with a more refined menu full of natural wines and clarified cocktails from Barrel alum Jacob Schoonover and 12-inch pies from Italian-born pizzaiolo Giulio Adriani, who recently partnered with the team to open up Slice & Pie and Lucy on 14th Street NW.
Clubhouse opens with a unique 23-and-up policy after 5 p.m. that aims to squash the space’s former reputation as a go-to hangout for underage Georgetown and GWU students.
“We’ve had problems with ABRA [Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration], and fake IDs are crazy good these days,” says Tin Shop co-founder Geoff Dawson. “We’re not fighting students. We want them to be of age and a little more grown up than ‘this is my first night out drinking.’”