Packy's Pub

What happened after

Urban Milwaukee (independent local outlet) reports the venue, renamed Campbell's Irish Pub after the Bar Rescue makeover, closed permanently after 22 years in business.

Closure date on record: 2022-04

What happened on the show

An Irish bar owner was behaving more like an employee than a boss, and worse, withholding his own staff's paychecks to keep the business breathing. At Packy's Pub in Milwaukee, Taffer had to reignite the owner's spirit and sense of ownership before the crew walked out for good over the unpaid wages, a rescue built on getting a passive man to actually lead the business he owned. The makeover reopened the room as Campbell's Irish Pub, a fresh Irish identity meant to give the tired bar a reason to draw a crowd and its owner a reason to reengage, betting that a re-energized boss who paid his people could hold together a long-running neighborhood pub that had been running on borrowed money and borrowed goodwill.

After the cameras left

Campbell's Irish Pub eventually closed for good after 22 years in business. Urban Milwaukee, an independent local outlet, reported the permanent closure, with Milwaukee Record memorializing it as the last of the city's Bar Rescue bars to go, which puts the ending at high confidence. The rescue bought the room years of additional life, and 22 total years is a real run, but the Irish pub at 4068 South Howell Avenue finally reached the end of the line, closing the book on Milwaukee's Bar Rescue history.