One of Springfield's longest-running restaurants has been listed for sale.
The owner of Pappy's Place, a barbecue staple for northern Springfield, has decided to let another owner continue the business. The reason for the sale deals with the death of Wayne Rader, who with his wife, Susan, owned the restaurant since 2019.
“At this time, it's too much for Susan after the loss of Wayne to continue on,” reads a post on the restaurant's Facebook page.
Susan Rader will keep the restaurant open until the next owner is ready, according to the Facebook post. In that post, she thanked all of the customers who helped her continue the history of the eatery.
According to the listing, the asking price for 941 and 947 N. Main Ave. is $500,000. Everything comes with the asking price, according to the listing, for an owner “who will hopefully keep the Pappy's tradition alive.”
The sale comes as the couple was planning to open an English pub, according to a January Daily Citizen report. Planning to fill in a gap left by the closing of Springfield Brewing Company's live music venue, the Raders planned to transform a building previously used as antiques storage into a space that would bolster Pappy's growing music offerings on the restaurant's outdoor patio.
The couple had targeted April 1 as an opening date for the new venture, to be named “Pappy's English Pub.” Wayne Rader died in January soon after that announcement.
Pappy's Place is approaching its 100th year of operation. Operating under different names since 1926, it received the Pappy's name from Paul and Dorothy Ankrom in 1970.
Pappy's Place is one of the oldest continually running restaurants in Springfield, and also has the longest continually running alcoholic drink license in the city. That license dates back to 1934, the year after prohibition ended.
