Sly Fox Pub Has History on Its Side
By Fritz Hahn
Washington Post Weekend Section
Friday, May 6, 2005

High-priced cocktail lounges and trendy dance clubs come and go, but it seems like the public's appetite for "traditional" Irish and English pubs will never be sated. Several are set to open in the Washington area in coming weeks and months, and you can bet each will make it a priority to feel like a comfortable, decades-old corner bar.

In the quest for that all-important "been here for years" atmosphere, some pubs utilize businesses such as the Dublin-based Irish Pub Co., which specializes in "re-creating Irish pubs . . . anywhere in the world" by shipping fixtures and bric-a-brac from the Old Country, shoehorning a 19th-century watering hole into a glass-and-steel office building.

Of course, as European travelers discover, a pub's atmosphere is something that is best developed over time, not purchased from a warehouse. And it might not be so difficult to find here if Washington had done a better job preserving its historic taverns and saloons.

Tunnicliff's Tavern, which sits across the street from Eastern Market, can trace its roots to the 18th century, but the original building was demolished in the 1930s. Old Ebbitt Grill, founded in 1856, occupied several now-forgotten addresses before moving to its current location at 15th and F streets NW in 1983. And don't even mention Rhodes Tavern, which was the city's oldest commercial building when it was torn down in 1984.

I'm not advocating the ersatz "living history" atmosphere of Williamsburg -- servers in knee britches and ruffled shirts proffering pewter tankards of ale -- but there's something transporting about places like the cramped little Sly Fox Pub inside Annapolis's historic Reynolds Tavern. With its impossibly low ceilings, whitewashed plaster walls and exposed wooden beams, the Sly Fox makes me nostalgic for the timeless pubs of Oxford or London, which remain bustling, vital places that transcend the novelty of drinking in a centuries-old building.

Built in 1747, Reynolds Tavern is the oldest tavern in Annapolis, besting the well-known Middleton Tavern by a few years. Founder William Reynolds was a hatter and dry-goods salesman as well as an innkeeper, hence the tavern's original name, the Beaver and Lac'd Hat.

It's not as if this building has housed an inn and tavern for the past two centuries. From 1811 to 1984, the property served as an office for the Farmers Bank of Maryland and then a branch of the Annapolis Public Library. Now a popular bed and breakfast with a very proper English afternoon tea service, the tavern's Georgian interior and exterior have been preserved by various historical trusts, so the pub feels like it could have been operating nonstop since Colonial days.

Yes, the building -- pub included -- is reputedly haunted by Mary Reynolds, the third wife of founder Reynolds. Most haunting activity takes place upstairs, but things sometimes "go awry" in the pub.

When Reynolds opened his tavern, the cellar housed the building's kitchen -- hence the giant walk-in fireplace in the rear -- while customers ate and drank in what are now very genteel tearooms upstairs. But in 2002, the tavern's owners decided to turn the basement into a pub, and they used the historic structure to its full advantage.

The Sly Fox is a simple place: two small rooms, each with its own heavy wooden bar; broad, flat stools; and large mirrors. "We try to keep it more of a [Colonial] pub style," says manager Steve Pritchard, emphasizing dim lighting and flickering candles. (Just watch where you're going -- the ceilings are roughly seven feet high, though much lower near the doorways. "I've cracked my head many a time," laughs Pritchard, who stands just over six feet tall.) A large section of the building's weathered stone foundation is visible in the rear dining room, along with heavy exposed beams and the large fireplace, "which we unfortunately cannot use right now," Pritchard explains. "There's a hole in the flue."

Worn brick peeks out from behind white plaster walls in places, matching the scuffed brick floor. (Pritchard tells me the floor was most recently replaced in the '80s.) A trio of flat-screen televisions and refrigerators holding bottled beers are the most obvious nods to the 20th century.

Each tiny room can hold only about 30 people, and the place is packed on Thursdays, when Jamaica's Red Stripe beer is $2 a bottle and plates of wings are half-price.

These days, though, I'm just as happy to sit outside on the huge, two-level patio behind the tavern. Covered in greenery and sporting its own bar, the courtyard has twice the capacity of the pub in what feels like three times the space. Ivy climbs wooden fences, daffodils and pansies bloom in planters, and a tall tree grows in the middle of the dining area.

The entrance is on a quieter side street, so the noise here comes from the couples and groups clustered around high bar tables or standing in loose circles at the bar, or the musicians who play Tuesday through Sunday nights. You'll have to fight your way to the bar on weekends, but even early in the week, the patio is far more crowded than the pub. Since "most people come here because they want to sit outside," Pritchard says the interior will probably close Sunday through Wednesday, unless there's a strong rain, or people need to go inside to cool off on especially humid days. (Early birds should note that the pub doesn't open until 4:30 Monday through Saturday and is required to close by midnight.) And if you can't tell by the water bowls, the Sly Fox is one of the most dog-friendly spots in Annapolis; on a recent Sunday afternoon, it seemed like every other group was holding a leash while they chatted over beers and such pub favorites as burgers or wings.

Of course, there's history out here, too -- the weather-beaten brick wall behind the bar is a remnant of the tavern's original stables -- but when the sun is shining on a lazy weekend afternoon, you realize that nothing's really changed over the past two hundred years:

Everyone's looking for a comfortable place to relax and have a drink with friends.