Hail Mary’s Tavern prepares for business in Hamlet

HAMLET — Downtown Hamlet is home to a new watering hole, Hail Mary’s Tavern, a sports bar with wine, beer and craft beer.

Mary Tyler, co-owner with Jerry Suggs, said the idea for the bar began about five or six years ago when her husband, Jeff, was serving in the army and stationed in Germany. She said that craft beer is something that Richmond County needs.

“The beer [in Germany] is just amazing,” Mary, an Ellerbe native, said. “I have no girls — living with the men in my life and sports — it’s just something that we just wanted to do where everyone could come and have a good time and I wouldn’t have to clean up the mess!”

Mary and Jeff have been married for 29 years. They have three sons, and their oldest, Dylan, will be managing the bar this summer.

Originally, the plan was for the business to form in Rockingham. Jeff said that they had concerns at first, but decided to take a leap of faith in shifting their business to Hamlet.

“We’ve had a lot of support,” Jeff said. “The Hamlet community has been really supporting us.”

Craft beers they plan on offering include selections from Red Oak Brewery, and potentially more local beers from Southern Pines Brewing Company and Railhouse Brewery.

Hail Mary’s Tavern will be a private bar that runs on a membership system. After paying the membership fee, guests can take advantage of the two pool tables, several flat screen TV’s and darts. Karaoke and open mic events are scheduled for the future. Food will be available for members only.

The began renovating the building right before COVID hit, which slowed their progress. Hail Mary’s has been in the “soft opening” stage since April. The current plan is for the official launch of the bar to be around August before football season.

The Hamlet Business Development Association had their first meeting since COVID in May, which Jeff attended. He shared his desire to see new activity downtown, threw out some ideas for the future of the bar, and collaborated with the other business leaders on how they could partner. He thinks Hamlet will be a great location for their bar. A new coffee shop, Axe to Grind, will soon combine with the Hatchet House axe-throwing range in Hamlet to bring more attention to the downtown area.

“It’d be pretty neat if this old town could come back to life,” Jeff said.

For the past few weeks, Hail Mary’s has hosted a cornhole tournament on Monday night. The couple said they’ve been enjoying showing NBA playoffs and baseball games, but they’re patiently waiting for the NFL season. They haven’t hosted any pay-per-view events yet, but it’s something they may do in the future.

Mary and Jeff said they expect the atmosphere to be laid-back and relaxed, but for football season it may get pretty loud. They both agreed that Hail Mary’s Tavern will ideally serve as a “Cheers” type of location for the Hamlet community.

“Anybody’s welcome,” Mary said. “We want people to come out and socialize.”