When I went to Sully’s Pub back in August of 2013 to do a blog post, I had no idea it would be my last trip inside of there. Two months after that was posted the liquor license for Sully’s got revoked and they limped along serving lunch for a little while before they ultimately closed.
Sully’s was once the downtown Peoria late-night pub at 121 SW Adams Street. It was named after Mike “Sully” Sullivan who is probably Peoria’s best known saloon owner. He was responsible for operating around a dozen different bars and restaurants in Peoria but Sully’s Pub & Cafe will always be the one most people remember him by. Sully died back in 2010, so he never got to see Sully’s get shuttered and that’s a good thing. For some reason, the sign and the outside of Sully’s remain the same, so I thought we’d go take a look at was once one of Peoria’s most popular downtown four o’clock taverns.
The Sully’s lit-up sign in the title graphic was from a photo I took back in 2013. It hasn’t been lit-up since they closed the joint over five years ago. And no one has been lit-up inside since then as well.
The awning and signs remain which spark memories for many as they drive or walk by the closed pub.
It was once Peoria’s Irish Embassy till the taxman came and put a lock on the door.
The windows are still decorated with beer signs and shamrocks from days and nights gone by.
The fans no longer spin overhead but Nurse - N - Nip and Fred remain etched in the sidewalk with a stray cigarette butt laying nearby.
This leprechaun holds the last beer served at Sully’s. The eternal last call mug of beer.
I took this picture of an old menu from Sully’s Pub back on my last visit in 2013. I wonder who autographed it, but I guess we’ll never know now.
Mike “Sully” Sullivan died in 2010 and Phil Luciano wrote a great tribute to the legendary barkeeper that you can read by clicking here. Sully is gone and his namesake bar is closed, but his memory lives on at W.E. Sullivan’s on Prospect in Peoria Heights. His nephew Billy Blasek and his wife Lauren have kept the name and the spirit of Sully alive at their bar, W.E. Sullivan’s. Cheers to that and to memories of Sullly's Pub & Cafe!
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