A comeback for Linda’s? Founder of famed Chapel Hill bar says it’s possible
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The changing face of Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street
Every time a fabled establishment shuts down in Chapel Hill, the laments grow louder. But when Linda’s Bar & Grill shut its doors this month, potentially for good, those cries grew to a loud roar. Can Franklin Street survive the changes, or is UNC’s main drag merely staging a dramatic wardrobe change? Here’s The News & Observer’s coverage of the downtown thoroughfare.
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The farewells for one of Chapel Hill’s legendary college bars may have been premature.
Linda’s Bar & Grill appeared doomed to end its 47-year run Friday night, as its current owner Christopher Carini announced he would close the beloved Franklin Street institution.
But that closing might not be permanent.
Reached Monday, building owner and restaurant namesake Linda Williams said she plans to find a new tenant to run the place.
The UNC-Chapel Hill student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel first reported the potential Linda’s revival Friday night, quoting Kim Scott, Williams’ daughter and co-owner of the building. Scott declined to comment when reached by phone Monday morning.
Owner now locked out of bar
Friday capped what would have been a fitting swan song for Linda’s, as scores of fans, alumni, students and regulars packed into the bar all week, toasting a nearly five decade legacy and clearing out the kitchen and coolers of practically all food and drinks.
Carini said debt accumulated during the pandemic years led to his decision to close Linda’s. Last year he set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign that collected $35,000 of a $135,000 goal meant to help clear some of that debt.
In its final week, Carini said Linda’s felt like the bar he purchased 13 years ago.
“It felt like vintage Linda’s again, three deep at the bar,” Carini said.
As of Sunday, Carini said the locks on the bar had been changed and he no longer had access to Linda’s.
To the best of her knowledge, Williams said, Linda’s was operating successfully until “something happened,” and that its current troubles have nothing to do with the business climate on Franklin Street.
“I know he was doing well,” she said. “Everybody is having a hard time.”
She added that this is due partly to “things that shouldn’t be there” on Franklin Street, referring to homelessness on the sidewalks.
“I don’t like to walk past a place where people are lying in the street,” Williams said. “No woman does. And no man does, probably.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2024 at 3:20 PM.
