Three years after The Barbary in Fishtown shut its doors, the popular dance bar is set to officially reopen on Thursday, March 27, writes Earl Hopkins for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The announcement was made in an Instagram post earlier this week.
The Barbary is known for its amazing dance parties and matinee punk shows, and over the years became home to dance parties like Space James, The Bounce, and Tiger Beats.
The bar and lounge on Frankford Avenue has endured a number of ownership changes and closures over the years.
It opened in 2007 after DJ John Redden purchased the property with a group of silent partners. Nine years later, he put the venue on the market.
By 2016, the addition of The Fillmore and other entertainment spaces in Fishtown took some of the shine away from the Barbary.
This is not the wild west out here anymore,” Redden said at the time. “A place like the Barbary always thrived by being off the beaten path.”
The COVID-19 pandemic led the Barbary to pivot to sidewalk parties rather than in-house events for about a year-and-a-half.
Since February 2022, the venue has been in the dark. However, now that is finally set to change.
Read more about the reemergence of the Barbary in Fishtown in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA Today in March 2025.
