Popular Raleigh cocktail bar ending a 12-year run (but won’t fully close). What’s next

The underground cocktail bar of a James Beard Award-winning chef will throw one last party this weekend.

Fox Liquor Bar , the basement lounge from chef Ashley Christensen, will close to the public after Saturday night. Beyond Aug. 3, Fox will become a private and ticketed events space.

Can you still visit Fox Liquor Bar?

“After August 3rd, we’ll be suspending our regular service schedule so that we can lean in on bringing you more of these unique opportunities to gather,” AC Restaurants said in an email newsletter of the move to private events.

“You can also use Fox for your own vision of a good time by booking it for a private event. It’s the ideal spot for a friend’s birthday party, or a customized happy hour for clients, or anything else you can dream up!”

Fox is named after a nickname of Christensen’s father. The bar opened in Raleigh in 2012 as among the first cocktail bars in the city, operating in the space under Beasley’s Chicken + Honey.

Like many bars in the first few years of the COVID pandemic, Fox remained closed to the public. It finally reopened last spring.

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