Whitlow’s DC Takes Over the Old Brixton Building This Spring

Whitlow’s Bar & Grill, the historic watering hole that closed in Clarendon in 2021 after nearly 30 years, resurfaced in D.C. last August. Now the beloved bar is on the move again, but it’s not going far.

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The reliable neighborhood dive, now named Whitlow’s DC, will relocate from its months-old Shaw home that formerly housed Echo Park into Brixton—a much-bigger Hilton hospitality brothers project two doors down that closed for good in January (901 U Street NW). Blogger Barred in DC first broke the relocation news on Friday, March 31, and a Whitlow’s rep confirmed the upcoming move.

Brixton, a British-style pub with a huge rooftop, drew long weekend lines around the block during its decade-long run at the visible Shaw corner of 9th and U Streets NW. Jon Williams, whose family owns Whitlow’s, is currently performing a full-scale renovation of all three floors and plans to open in May.

With room for 200 across one level and an enclosed patio out back, the current Whitlow’s DC location (2012 Ninth Street NW) is dramatically smaller than its Whitlow’s on Wilson Clarendon predecessor that fit around 1,000 across its first floor and tiki-styled rooftop. Williams will carry on tradition at its new digs by installing a tropical beach theme up top.

Ross Perkins/Eater DC

Brixton went on hiatus several times during the pandemic before going permanently dark in early 2023.

“When [Jon’s] longtime friend Ian Hilton closed The Brixton in January, it was just too good a deal to pass up,” a Whitlow’s rep tells Eater.

Long before Whitlow’s called Clarendon home, founder David Whitlow opened the original on the corner of 11th and E Streets NW in 1946. For its triumphant return to D.C., bar food favorites like cheese fries, smash burgers, and wings join bottomless brunch and happy hour (5 p.m. to 8 p.m.) with $5 ice-cold beers and rail drinks and $8 draft cocktails. A whiskey “Shaw’t and a beer” combo — a Budweiser or PBR tall boy with a shot of Four Roses Yellow — is a cute nod to its new neighborhood.

Familiar tchotchkes amassed over the years will continue to live on at Whitlow’s DC, which includes an animated parrot statue, Elvis-shaped lamp, and D.C. license plates from the 1930s. Williams has an entire storage facility full of salvaged Whitlow’s decor, and now he has more space to pull out tables and sports memorabilia that haven’t been showcased in years.

Whitlow’s DC will stay open in its current location right up until the move in May. It’s unclear what will come of the soon-to-be old Whitlow’s DC space, which is also home to a walk-up Andy’s Pizza that’s taking over a larger Shaw space too. The acclaimed pizza parlor plans to open soon in the old Hazel space nearby (808 V Street NW) with room for 75 customers.

Fredde Lieberman