Formerly: Broad Axe Inn · Broad Axe Hotel
Whitpain Township, Pennsylvania ·
The former Broad Axe Tavern was a Whitpain Township restaurant and bar in a historic Butler Pike building; it permanently closed in January 2019.
Broad Axe Tavern was a restaurant and bar at 901 W. Butler Pike in Whitpain Township, near Ambler and Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. The venue promoted a traditional 1681 tavern origin, though the reviewed record does not independently verify that date and local accounts conflict about the building's construction history. The business permanently closed on January 19, 2019.
Later Broad Axe Tavern histories and marketing materials traditionally claimed a tavern origin at the site in 1681; the underlying primary record was not verified in this review.
Source: AllAroundPhilly, "Broad Axe Tavern, Ambler, PA"; Montco Today, "Broad Axe Tavern claims second oldest in America title," November 21, 2018
Some later local accounts date the Broad Axe hotel to 1792, but the precise building-construction chronology remains unresolved.
Source: AllAroundPhilly, "Broad Axe Tavern, Ambler, PA"; Wissahickon Valley Historical Society post, "The Broad Axe Tavern and a Ghost Named Rachel," June 8, 2023
A fire reportedly closed the Broad Axe business; a later venue history said the site remained dormant for close to eight years before reopening under Broad Axe Partners.
Source: AllAroundPhilly, "Broad Axe Tavern, Ambler, PA"
The former venue's historical account says Broad Axe Partners reopened the business after the post-fire restoration period.
Source: AllAroundPhilly, "Broad Axe Tavern, Ambler, PA"
Broad Axe Tavern permanently closed. The operators cited ownership and lease issues, and subsequent reporting said the operating company filed for bankruptcy.
Source: Patch, "Ambler's Broad Axe Restaurant To Shut Down," January 16, 2019; Around Ambler, January 15, 2019; Philadelphia Business Journal, February 25, 2019
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The 1681 date was prominently repeated in the former venue's marketing and local historical summaries. The sources reviewed do not supply the underlying license, deed, tax, or contemporaneous record, and later local-history commentary says the building's exact construction date is uncertain.
The claim was used in former venue publicity, but the business reportedly closed for close to eight years after a 2001 fire and permanently closed in January 2019. Those interruptions defeat any claim that it was continuously operating.
The story appears in a modern site-history account but no contemporaneous orders, diaries, correspondence, or reliable military-history source was identified in this review. Regional Revolutionary-War troop movement does not establish Washington's repeated passage by this building.
The venue announced that January 19, 2019, would be its final day. Patch reported that owners attributed the closure to ownership and lease issues, and later reporting documented bankruptcy by the operating company.
Broad Axe Tavern was America's second-oldest continuously operating tavern.
The former venue made that marketing claim, but it reportedly closed for close to eight years after a 2001 fire and permanently closed in 2019. It cannot be described as continuously operating.
Source: AllAroundPhilly, "Broad Axe Tavern, Ambler, PA"; Patch, January 16, 2019; Around Ambler, January 15, 2019
Broad Axe Tavern remained open as a dining and drinking establishment.
The business permanently closed on January 19, 2019. Subsequent reports documented bankruptcy by the operating company, while 2023 and 2025 listings advertised the former restaurant/bar building for lease.
Source: Patch, January 16, 2019; Philadelphia Business Journal, February 25, 2019; ZM Commercial Real Estate, 2023; TenantBase, 2025
The present Broad Axe Tavern building was definitively built in 1681 or 1792.
Later accounts repeat both dates, but the reviewed material does not establish a definitive construction chronology. The building date and the claimed tavern-origin date require primary-record and architectural research.
Source: AllAroundPhilly, "Broad Axe Tavern, Ambler, PA"; Wissahickon Valley Historical Society post, June 8, 2023
This property does not qualify for Still Open America because the former restaurant and bar closed in 2019. The building has remained notable as a highly visible historic commercial site at Butler and Skippack Pikes, but recent listings market it as restaurant/bar space for lease rather than an operating continuation of Broad Axe Tavern.
Broad Axe Tavern was a former restaurant and bar at the intersection of Butler and Skippack Pikes in Whitpain Township, near Ambler. It promoted a traditional 1681 tavern origin, although the reviewed record does not independently verify that date and historical accounts disagree over the building's age. After a reported eight-year closure following a 2001 fire, the business reopened and then permanently closed on January 19, 2019.
No. Broad Axe Tavern permanently closed on January 19, 2019. The operators said the closing resulted from ownership and lease issues, and later reporting said Broad Axe Partners filed for bankruptcy. Recent commercial listings market the former restaurant and bar building for lease.
No. Broad Axe Tavern's former marketing claimed a 1681 origin and called it one of America's oldest taverns, but the claim was not established by the evidence reviewed. Its reported approximately eight-year post-fire closure and permanent closure in 2019 also mean it cannot qualify as a continuously operating Pennsylvania tavern.
901 W Butler Pike, Ambler, PA 19002
None on file
Permanently closed. Commercial listings in 2023 and 2025 described the former three-floor restaurant/bar building as available for lease; verify any subsequent tenant before visiting.