Andy’s Old Port Pub at 94 Commercial Street closed Friday after more than 12 years in business. Photo by Claire Jeffers

John M. Lowell Jr. and his wife, Tanya Lowell, residents of Lyman, are buying Andy’s Old Port Pub, which closed in November.

John Lowell is the former manager of the popular pub on Portland’s Commercial Street. He had worked there for less than a year when the failure of a walk-in refrigerator, along with other issues, led the owners, Jennifer Fox and Richard Frantz, to close the place on Nov. 1.

In a letter to the Portland City Council, which will review the pub’s food, alcohol and entertainment licenses on Monday, Lowell wrote that, in the 12 years they owned the pub, Fox and Frantz “made Andy’s not only into a mainstay of the year-round waterfront community, but also a favorite stop of many seasonal residents, tourists, and a regular destination for tour buses and walking foodie tours.”

“The sudden closing came as a shock to not only those of us preparing for work on the morning of the 1st, but also to the local community,” Lowell wrote. “Over the following weekend, Ms. Fox was flooded with emails and meanwhile the property owner was contacted over 200 times in those first two days with the same sentiment, Andy’s must be saved.”

Lowell indicated that, other than replacing the walk-in, the kitchen will remain unaltered. The couple has no plans to change the menu or entertainment, either. Fox and Frantz also wrote a letter, offering their endorsement of the Lowells as their successors.

If the council approves the pub’s licenses, the Lowells hope to re-open Andy’s in January.

 


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