Jeremy’s Ale House Is the Old School Bar That Wants You to Be a Regular

In a neighborhood with many great bars, Jeremy’s Ale House (228 Front St.) is the bar-iest of them all. One of Lower Manhattan’s legacy businesses, the drinking hole has been around in some form or another since 1972. Now, it’s one of the best downtown spots for locals and tourists alike, boasting cheap drinks, delicious food (try the fried calamari!) and bonafide dive vibes, complete with an impressive collection of former patrons’ bras hanging from the ceiling. 

Founder Jeremy Holin launched his namesake bar in a 100-square-foot stall in the Seaport’s erstwhile flea market, eventually moving into a few other spaces in the neighborhood before settling into the current storefront. Holin’s earliest customers included Wall Street types, fish market workers and construction workers. The bar offered quarts of beer for $1.75 each starting at 8 a.m., a tradition kept up until the Covid-19 pandemic, and frequently saw crowds. 

“We were so popular for lunch that there was a brokerage firm that to get into their computer system, you had to type in ‘Jeremy’s Ale House,’” Holin said.

Jeremy’s was such a hit that at one point, while located at 259 Front St., Holin opened a sister bar across the street. He named the bar Cheryl’s, after his wife, and themed it as a slightly more elevated spot. “The joke was that Cheryl’s was Jeremy’s better half,” Holin said. “At Jeremy’s, you get a bucket of beer and styrofoam. At Cheryl’s, you get a carafe and a glass.”

The bar has seen a lot of downtown’s recent history. It provided a key service on September 11, 2001, when Holin kept the bar open all day and night so people could use the payphones to contact their loved ones and tell them they were OK. 

“The last guy left at 10 at night,” Holin said. “As I locked the door, the electricity went out.”

Jeremy’s Ale House also survived Hurricane Sandy, even when floodwater came up to the top of the bar. And it made it through the pandemic, when Holin’s son, Lee Holin, kept the bar safely afloat by serving customers through a storefront order window. 

Now, Lee Holin runs downtown’s Jeremy’s Ale House; Holin’s other son, Jason, runs another outpost on Long Island. So things are a little different at the bar than they were 40 years ago…but it’s still the spot to go at lunchtime, for both newcomers and longtime patrons. Holin says regulars who came in for decades still come through. 

“Even the ones who moved to Florida,” he said.