Last October I heard the sad news that one of Peoria’s oldest and most unique tavern’s, The Friendly Valley Tavern was closing its doors. I went and took photos for what I hoped wouldn’t be my last post from The Friendly Valley Tavern, Peoria’s only Quonset Hut Bar.

When I was taking photos in there a year ago, I said to Linda, who was behind the bar, that this is probably the end of an era and she nodded her head in agreement with me.

Well, little did we both know that it was indeed the end of an era, but I found out later that it was just the start of a new one.

In March of 2022 it was reported that Sean Kenny, the owner and operator of Kenny’s Westside Pub had bought the historical tavern.

A new era has begun for this iconic Peoria tavern, let’s go and take look at the next chapter of the Friendly Valley Tavern: The Sean Kenny Era!

Wow, it’s so great to see this place up and running again! And check it out, there’s live music here now! More about that later…

Right now let’s go in and see what’s happening inside Peoria’s only Quonset Hut Tavern!

I love the fact that the original doorway has been kept intact and check out the logo on the inside doorway! The Friendly Valley is open seven days a week from 11AM to 1AM.

Wow, it looks so nice in here.

It still has the feel of the old Friendly Valley, but it’s been cleaned up and refurbished for a new generation to enjoy this historical and classic Peoria Tavern!

And look who’s behind the bar serving up a frosty iced schooner of beer, Sean Kenny, the new owner and operator of The Friendly Valley Tap!

It’s great to see Sean and I thanked him for keeping this iconic Peoria institution alive. If anyone can breathe new life into this tavern, it’s Sean Kenny!

I first met Sean when he took over an age-old bar on Farmington Road which had been home to many sub-standard bars in the past. He redesigned that bar, named it Kenny’s Westside Pub and it quickly became one of Peoria’s most popular pubs for drinks, delicious food and live music.

Within three years, he outgrew that space and moved to a new location on Jefferson Street in downtown Peoria and turned that into a mecca of a pub, restaurant and a live music destination like Peoria has never seen before.

Bands have come from across the country to play there and there’s a separate ballroom with wonderful acoustics and professional lighting.

Sean’s bringing his expertise at putting on live shows here at The Friendly Valley Tavern and there’s going to be outside shows all summer long and into the fall.

Sean’s really done a service for Peoria by bringing entertainment and fun to the downtown area and now he’s reviving a classic Peoria tavern on this side of town.

And Sean’s done all of this by himself and using his own vision to create these wonderful entertainment centers in Peoria. He’s had no rich backers or people funding him, he’s done it the old-fashioned way, he started small and is growing an entertainment empire all on his own!

Cheers to Sean and thanks for sharing your unique vision woth Peoria, Illinois!

There’s a state-of-the-art jukebox at the end of the bar and tables sit opposite to enjoy drinks at.

There’s a couple classic beer lamp shades and the last one hangs over the quartet of beers on tap in here.

Here’s posters of some of the upcoming live shows here at The Friendly Valley Tavern.

Check out the wall next to the Big Buck Hunter game, those are wooden Coca-Cola and Pepsi cases Sean found in the basement. They’re decades old and some of them are stamped with “Peoria, Ill.” Too cool!

Here’s some vintage Pabst Blue Ribbon signs on the wall and Sean said the bottom one was stamped with a “Made In Peoria Heights” on the back of the print.

Lot’s of local history on the walls in here!

There’s a nice beer patio outside and I love the giant Budweiser cap on the wall!

Local artist Megan Couri is painting this colorful and beautiful mural on the back wall outside. It’s a work in progress and about a third of the way done.

I never knew that there was so much land outside of The Friendly Valley Tavern and Sean is really developing it nicely.

He’s expanded the parking lot and there’s going to be an area out here devoted to volleyball.

Leagues are starting up in July and you can sign your team up now!

There’s a nice beer pavilion out here to sit at and there’s the stage where the live music happens out here on Friday and Saturday nights.

Right now Kenny’s Westside Pub is closed and undergoing renovation, so they’ve moved the open-stage nights out here on Wednesday nights until Kenny’s re-opens in August.