Kelly’s Taproom: listen up

To the editor:

Usually avid readers like myself take the opportunity to write to you to express their discontent with a particular aspect of paper. I could care less about a grammatical error or an opinion I happened to disagree with.

What I write to you about today is far more serious and alarming to the average Villanova student.

Kelly’s Taproom, an establishment that I have been known to frequent, has again spat in the face of the students who keep them in business, and raised their cover charge $3. This doesn’t seem to be a lot, but say, for instance, you happen to make it into Kelly’s three nights a week, as some of our more avid seniors do. It really adds up – to the tune of close to $400 a year.

It’s not the money. It’s the principle.

Kelly’s is a place where people like to hang out. But why? Their drinks are weaker and more expensive than anywhere else on the Main Line. Except on Tuesday nights when they offer “Dollar Drinks,” in which case you have to ask yourself if you actually forgot to order the gin with your tonic water.

This letter has been long in the making. It first came to my mind after St. Patrick’s Day, when Kelly’s widely publicized a no-cover evening, complete with Tuesday night specials.

However, to the dismay of the hundreds lined up, the ever friendly bouncers charged a $5 cover and refused to tell anyone if there were specials, which upon entering you realized that there were none.

Villanova students do not appreciate this. The fact of the matter is, if it were easier to breathe in Erin’s, and there was room to move your arms away from your sides in Maloney’s, Kelly’s would never have a crowd.

The reason that this letter is being sent to you, however, is that the owners of Kelly’s read this paper, advertise in it, and have been known to respond to critical pieces, which as Villanova alumni, they should.

As Villanova alumni however, they should have a much higher regard for their fellow Villanovans.

Everyone needs to make a buck, but I would encourage Kelly’s to make their profit off reasonably priced drinks and fare, as opposed to a fruitless cover that leaves most people simply bitter.

-Bill Wiley, Senior