AUSTIN, TX - Niles Graham wanted to open a pub.  His choice of location was in Austin at 12th and Lamar.  His timing however was bad.  The year was 1921, and a new law called Prohibition meant no spirits and therefore no pub. His dream was altered, the store modeled after a German public house, was transformed into a grocery store.  Later the Grocery was moved next door and The Tavern became a restaurant.

Now some dispute the following details.  Was the building at one time during the "Roaring Twenties" a speakeasy?  Was there more being served in the rooms upstairs than just what was on the menu?  No one knows now or if they do have the facts they are keeping the information to themselves.  But perhaps less then legal activities during those decades could account for the interesting and hard to explain activities that occur in the restaurant these days.

Some say the Tavern is haunted.  A spirit walks through the kitchen and up the stairs.  Televisions kept in the bar allowing current day patrons to watch sports and local news switch channels suddenly by an invisible entity.  A figure of a little girl is often seen in the window before she vanishes from sight.  A woman referred to as "Emily", possibly the child's mother, is also seen frequently before she too is gone in the blink of an eye.  Are the rumors of murder true?  The most often told tale would have us believe that young Emily had a less than savory occupation.  One night in the early forties a fight broke out between two men.  Emily and her little girl were caught up in the middle of the brawl and neither one lived to tell their story.  Whatever you believe stop by the Restaurant and Bar for a beer, because Niles Graham got his wish.  The Tavern has spirits.

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