{"id":128386,"date":"2025-08-08T06:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T06:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128386\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T06:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T06:39:10","slug":"houstons-maple-leaf-pub-closes-due-to-unpaid-tax-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/128386\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston’s Maple Leaf Pub closes due to unpaid tax debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston\u2019s favorite hockey bar has poured its last pint. The Maple Leaf Pub<\/strong><\/a> is officially closed.<\/p>\n

Open since 2005, the bar had been a Midtown staple known for drawing legions of Canadian ex-pats and other hockey fanatics who cheered every shot, pass, and fight. Karaoke nights and other happenings kept the bar busy during the offseason. Still, the bar never fully recovered from changes in people\u2019s entertainment spending brought about by the Covid pandemic. <\/p>\n

In a statement, owners Olivia and Sean Blair mourned the death of the 20-year-old Midtown institution. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades, she stood as a beacon of no-nonsense hospitality in Midtown, Houston,\u201d the statement reads in part. \u201cShe weathered floods, bar trends, and barstool drama, always punching above her weight and pouring strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite its beloved status in the community, the Maple Leaf couldn\u2019t survive changing demographics, rising prices, and a dispute with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, which seized the bar for owing more than $340,000 in unpaid taxes, the Houston Chronicle reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Sean Blair strongly disputes the amount the Comptroller states that the Maple Leaf owes. He tells CultureMap that an audit performed by the Comptroller\u2019s Office didn\u2019t account for everything from liquor spilled on accident to the Maple Leaf\u2019s recipes that use a one-and-a-half-ounce pour instead of a one-ounce pour. While he wanted to fight to stay open, he called the amount owed \u201cunattainable\u201d for a small business such as his. Faced with the daunting task of having to find new investors who could pay off the debt and reopen the bar, he and Olivia decided to move on. <\/p>\n

Rising costs contributed to putting the bar in a financial hole. Kegs of the bar\u2019s most popular beers have doubled in price, Blair explains. A standard, half-barrel keg of craft beer might cost around $225-250. At those prices, the bar needs to sell a pint for between $7.50 and $9 to make a profit, but Blair says he encountered resistance from customers when he tried to do so. <\/p>\n

Labor costs went up, too, especially for cooks. \u201cAfter Covid, I couldn\u2019t get anyone for less than $15 \u2014 or $18 if you want them to stick around,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

The rise of streaming made it easier for people to watch the hockey games that people used to visit the Maple Leaf for. <\/p>\n

Still, by his own admission, the Maple Leaf had a \u201chelluva run.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to those who pulled up a barstool, sang karaoke, fell in love in the corner booth, or just needed a place to sit and not be bothered,\u201d the statement concludes. \u201cA final toast and unofficial wake to be held anywhere the spirit of The Leaf lives on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston\u2019s favorite hockey bar has poured its last pint. The Maple Leaf Pub is officially closed. Open since…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":128387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[22790,4345,78417,12079,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-128386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-closings","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-maple-leaf-pub","11":"tag-nightlife","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114991776736644587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}