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March 21, 2024

Hartford loses its ‘Steam’: City Steam Brewery closing March 31

Matt Pilon City Steam's Hartford brewpub.
By David Krechevsky

City Steam Brewery & Cafe, a fixture in Hartford for more than 25 years, will close next week.

The brewery stated in a lengthy Facebook post that “[i]t is with humble gratitude and a heavy heart that we announce the closing of City Steam Brewery on March 31 — after 44 years in business….”

The post adds that City Steam will continue to distribute its craft beer at more than 1,500 grocery and liquor stores, and bars and restaurants statewide.

The announcement comes less than a year after the brewery closed for four months in February 2023 due to flooding caused by a burst pipe. 

It reopened in May 2023 thanks in part to a $100,000 grant from the city’s Small Business Investment Fund to help with repairs and renovations. The Facebook post thanks the city for its support, but adds that “we could not recover from the after effects of a four-month, half-million-dollar closure” due to the burst pipe and flood.

“We had an incredible run, but it is now time to hand the reigns (sic) over to another talented and creative restaurateur,” it states. “We are looking for restaurateur who may have an interest in buying the business and putting in a new concept — brewery or not — in our incredible 150+ year old historic structure.”

The brewery first opened in 1980 as Brown Thomson and Company in the historic HH Richardson Building at 942 Main St., and rebranded 27 years ago as City Steam. 

“In 1997 we had the vision to open a brewery, so we converted BT to City Steam, the second brewery/pub in CT (now there are over 130!),” the post states. “City Steam was named after our source of power, which is the steam that runs below the streets of Harford.”

The post also thanks the “thousands and thousands of wonderful loyal staff members that made us the most fun place to work in downtown Hartford for over 4+ decades!” It also thanked customers. 

 

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