Bar / Tavern restaurants in Chicago

407 trading today — 6% of every restaurant open in the city. 904 have held a licence here since 2002, and 41 opened in the last 24 months.

How long Bar / Tavern restaurants last

82%

still open at 4 years (n=816)

+24pts

against the citywide rate of 58%

13.0

median years open, closed cohorts

Measured only on restaurants that opened long enough ago to have reached 4 years, so recent openings cannot flatter it. A rate is published only where at least 40 have.

Where Bar / Tavern clusters

By community area, most open today first. Counts only — a four-year survival rate needs 40 matured restaurants and only ≈16% of these cells have that many, so the rate lives below, where it can be quoted honestly.

Neighbourhood	Open now	Ever licensed
Lake ViewTier 1 · Prime	32	81
LoopTier 1 · Prime	22	45
Logan SquareTier 1 · Prime	18	20
O'HareTier 3 · Emerging	14	22
North CenterTier 2 · Strong	13	29
Lincoln SquareTier 2 · Strong	12	24
AvondaleTier 2 · Strong	10	15
West RidgeTier 3 · Emerging	8	12
Lincoln ParkTier 1 · Prime	8	31
West TownTier 1 · Prime	8	23
Humboldt ParkTier 3 · Emerging	8	13
UptownTier 2 · Strong	7	15

By zip code

The same cut for anyone working from an address rather than a neighbourhood name.

Zip	Open now	Ever licensed
60647	29	39
60657	26	74
60622	23	53
60607	22	52
60618	21	46
60613	21	32
60654	20	43
60614	18	48
60616	16	23
60611	14	45
60666	14	19
60625	13	27

Where Bar / Tavern has lasted longest

Community areas whose matured cohort clears 40, best first. Areas with thinner records are not ranked rather than ranked low.

Loop93%n=40
Lake View80%n=73

Watch one neighbourhood.

This page is the whole city. Pick the area you actually care about and we will email you when a new restaurant licence appears there, and stay quiet when none does. It covers openings only: a closure takes about three years to surface fully in the public record, and we will not send an alert we cannot stand behind.

Thinking about opening one?

This page is the record: what has been tried, where, and how long it lasted. A read scores a specific concept for a specific operator against it — including whether Bar / Tavern is the strongest thing you could put in that space. Free right now, no card.

Read an address free