Fmr. Custom House owner to launch new ALCO bar
<P>Leah Reynolds, the longtime former owner of the <A href="//www.thisplaceiknow.com/place_view.cfm?placeID=470">Custom House Tavern</A> in downtown Providence, tells N4N that she plans this spring to launch a new nightspot -- called Everyman -- in the <A href="//www.urbanplanet.org/forums/PROGRESS-American-Locom-t13602.html">American Locomotive</A> development on the city's West Side.</P>
<P>Reynolds, a longtime bartender around town, owned the Custom House from about 1990 until roughly 2002, when she sold it, and the business later failed under its new ownership. According to Reynolds, the bar, which had opened in 1942, had at the time the oldest license in Providence.</P>
<P>She hopes her new spot will be a version of the old Custom House, "with a real kitchen this time."</P>
<P>After originally planning on a wine bar, Reynolds decided to pursue something more egalitarian, and named the new enterprise ("Common Man" was taken by <A href="//www.thecman.com/HTML/Restaurants.html">a place in New Hampshire</A>) after <A href="//www.luminarium.org/medlit/everyman.htm">a play from the 1400s</A>. She hopes to open in April or shortly thereafter.</P>
<P>In terms of the Custom House, she says, "I think what happened, a lot of the people who used to come to the tavern still don't have a place to go," so Everyman is meant to fill that niche, and adding another West Side destination "will be good for over there."</P>