Last Call: Union Jack's Closes Ballston Location

Union Jack's of Ballston will close its doors for good Monday night.

Trivia will run until 10 p.m. Matthew Snee, Union Jack's regional manager, said he anticipates a lot of regulars showing up and has already seen former employees come by. The bar can serve alcohol until 2 a.m.; the size of the crowd will help determine exactly how long after trivia is finished before the final last call.

"We're really sad," Snee told Patch. "I remember putting the nails in the floorboard when we were building the raised level. We probably kept it open longer than we should have economically because we have such an affinity for it."

The Arlington location, on the first level of Ballston Common Mall, was the company's second store and its only operation in Virginia. It opened the day before Thanksgiving in 2008.

"It's just not performing — not at what expected it to or, quite frankly, where we needed it to," Snee said.

The Arlington County Public Health Division temporarily closed the business last week when a lack of hot water caused sanitation concerns. The problem was fixed Thursday and Union Jack's was allowed to reopen.

The company is not planning to auction or otherwise liquidate any of its equipment; that can be used at the establishment's other stores.

Union Jack's has three locations in Maryland. It's first store, in Bethesda, turns 8 years old this fall and is Metro accessible. The business also operates in Annapolis and Columbia, and Union Jack's hopes to open a new Gaithersburg location this fall in the Washingtonian Center.

"The good thing is we're hoping to get some of our regulars up to Bethesda," Snee said. "We've had a lot of them go up there for special events over the years. We're hoping they'll make the trip."

Until recently, the Ballston location employed about 150 people. In the last four to six weeks, that was scaled down to about 40 employees. Some of them will continue working at other locations, including a handful that have been with Union Jack's of Ballston since it opened. One employee has been with the company since Day 1.

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