Less than two years after reopening, a popular Southampton watering hole is on the market.
A long-term lease for Taps, at 1271 North Sea Road, is listed with Corcoran for $525,000 in what is called a “key money” arrangement, in which a new restaurateur will pay that sum to take over the remaining 19 years of the 20-year, “low-rent” lease.
Formerly North Sea Tavern—and Regulars, OutEast Cafe and Tugboat’s North Sea House—the restaurant/bar has 42 seats in the bar area and 61 seats in the restaurant, front and rear parking lots, and an apartment above the restaurant. There is 1,400 square feet of interior and 1,100 square feet of outdoor patio space.
The restaurant’s owner, Rich Decker, took the space over in 2011, when the last incarnation had been OutEast, and he reopened it as North Sea Tavern, which had been its original name.
A longtime resident of the East End who also owns Studio 89, a fitness studio in Sag Harbor, Mr. Decker revamped the restaurant, including doubling the size of the bar. It reopened as Taps last April and has been offering popular pub fare and a wealth of draft and bottled beers, as well as mixed drinks.
Will a new favorite restaurant fill Taps’s shoes? More importantly, will it survive?
Carey London on Jan 12, 2015