Popular Raleigh dive bar closes after 21 years. Fans are still snatching up merch

One of Raleigh’s most popular dive bars shut its doors for good this week, ending a two decade run and a trail of memories.

The owners of The Goat announced this week that they had permanently closed the bar.

“Today is bittersweet,” the owners posted on The Goat’s Facebook page Aug. 23. “We’ve decided to close the Goat Bar. As we say goodbye to Goat Bar we want to express a huge heartfelt thank you to all of our past and present employees, regulars, Goat friends and Patrons over the past 21+ years for helping to make the Goat Bar truly the Greatest of All Time.”

Owned by married couple Amanda and Brandon LaRoque, The Goat opened on April Fool’s Day in 2003 on the western end of Western Boulevard. The bar embraced its proximity to NC State but was also cherished as a neighborhood dive.

The Goat Bar’s last day was Aug. 22. That night North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement officers raided the bar in response to a tip, co-owner Amanda LaRoque said, ticketing two bartenders and five underage patrons. LaRoque said the bar has not received a citation, but that the incident helped put a period at the end of years worth of considerations of winding down The Goat.

“This was on our terms,” LaRoque said in a phone interview. “I want to be clear, ALE did not shut us down. This was a choice. We’ve been thinking for two years about wanting to close, but didn’t pull the trigger until now.”

The Goat requires everyone inside to be 21, LaRoque said, with IDs checked and scanned at the door, rather than by bartenders when drinks are ordered.

“We don’t let anyone under 21 in the bar, period, the end,” LaRoque said. “I feel like we did everything right. We’ve tried to have a happy and safe atmosphere.”

On Monday, Aug. 26, a line of people wrapped around The Goat in hopes of buying any merch left in the bar. LaRoque said The Goat has sold 17 different kinds of T-shirts it had in stock. More shirts and sweatshirts are being printed to go along with an everything-must-go sale in September. A special gravestone t-shirt commemorating The Goat’s demise is in the works.

“The outpouring of love has been amazing,” LaRoque said. “I had no idea this little 800 square foot bar meant so much to people. We just provided an atmosphere and people made it their own.”

Since the closing, dozens of people show up daily, LaRoque said, searching for and finding their dollars stuck to the walls long ago, or telling stories of first dates and eventual marriages. One couple called to book a maternity shoot at the bar before the lease runs out next month.

The pandemic was hard on dive bars, with guidelines and regulations making a steep hill to climb for businesses that sold drinks and not food. LaRoque said the couple spent their savings in the first two years of the pandemic. The next two years weren’t any easier, she said.

“We were so thankful and grateful to make it through the pandemic,” LaRoque said. “But it was like starting over. After 17 years we were starting over. We’re just tired.”

LaRoque worries about the future for dive bars in a redeveloping Raleigh, where the allure of cheap drinks, sticky floors and Golden Tee might be at odds with rising rents. She said The Goat is one of a dying breed.

“There are not many dive bars left,” LaRoque said. “We embraced it. We were no frills, not pretentious. It was neighborly, come as you are. Good drinks at a fair price, we didn’t pretend to be anything we weren’t.”

The Goat Bar is still finalizing plans for an indoor yard sale. For details keep an eye on its Facebook page.

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