Old Chicago closes Old Town Fort Collins location after 36 years in business

Jacob Laxen | The Coloradoan

Show Caption Hide Caption Then & Now: Past FoCo restaurants A look at spots where former restaurants stood

Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom closed its Old Town Fort Collins location on Sunday after 36 years in business.

Multiple restaurant staff members informed the Coloradoan in May that the 147 S. College Ave. restaurant would close sometime in November, around the time the location's lease was to expire. But the restaurant that has operated since 1982 shut its doors a few months early — "closed" signs are now posted in the establishment's windows.

The other Fort Collins Old Chicago location, at 4709 S. Timberline Road, which has operated since 2000, will remain open.

Multiple other Old Chicago locations have closed in recent years throughout Colorado.

The original location of the national pizza and beer chain at Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall closed in late 2016 when its lease expired after four decades in business. A location in Denver’s Market Street closed in 2014 after 22 years. The downtown Colorado Springs location shut its doors in the summer of 2016 after 33 years.

The Old Town Fort Collins Old Chicago location helped diversify the Choice City’s beer offerings, hosting the Odell Brewing Co. debut launch party in 1989 and offering a world beer tour program.

Founder Frank Day, who opened the first Old Chicago location in Boulder in 1976, is listed as a co-owner of the Old Town Fort Collins location. Day also founded the Rock Bottom brewery chain, also owned by parent company CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries.

CraftWorks says it operates more than 100 Old Chicago locations and more than 200 total restaurants across the country.

Follow Jacob Laxen on Twitter and Instagram: @jacoblaxen