Brother Willie’s Pub begins new chapter

After years of sitting mostly unused, Brother Willie’s Pub is beginning to come back to life.

Located on the St. John’s campus in Sexton, the pub has stood largely dormant since its previous iteration of Happy Hour closed in 2018. According to the Oct. 26, 2018 edition of The Record, one of the biggest reasons for the closure came following an incident in Spring 2018 involving two first-year student employees “drinking on the job and [allowing] their underclassmen friends to drink.” One of the other reasons was an overall lack of finances and revenue. Now, the pub is reopening in stages as SJU Culinary Services works to turn the space into more than just a bar.

Brandon Gunderson, the associate director of SJU Culinary Services, joined St. John’s seven months ago with more than 20 years of experience overseeing bars and restaurants. Since arriving, he said he has been working to figure out what it would take to make Brother Willie’s a place that students actually want to spend time.

“It’s going to be fun again,” Gunderson said. “It’s going to take time, and it’s going to take some money.”

There have been a few additions to Brother Willie’s since the beginning of the school year as a part of the first stage of the reopening. This includes a jukebox as well as arcade machines, which can be spotted around the pub on the main floor, as a way to gain funds and generate some revenue. The pub also now has a new soda gun and tap tower.

Future plans in talks include offering craft cocktails for students of legal drinking age, as well as dirty sodas, mocktails and other nonalcoholic options.

The pub is also expected to become a place for watching campus and professional sports. Gunderson hopes to eventually install a large screen and projector capable of showing CSB+SJU games, as well as other sporting events.

The space could also eventually be used by student organizations and campus groups. Gunderson said he wants groups to be able to use the pub for events without having to pay to reserve the space.

“I want the groups to know that this space is for them as well,” Gunderson said.

The timing of some of those activities will depend on student interest and time of year. Gunderson said he expects the pub to become more active during the colder months, when students may be looking for indoor places to gather.

One of the goals is to give students a reason to come to Brother Willie’s even when there is not a major sporting event or other scheduled activity.

These additions are part of a larger effort to make the space appealing to students whether or not they are old enough to drink. The plans are ambitious, but funding remains one of the biggest obstacles.

Because Brother Willie’s has been largely unused for years, Gunderson said there was not a large existing budget for improvements. Culinary Services has some funding available, but recent investments in other areas—including a new pizza and pasta station in the Refectory—have also required funding.

Revenue from new additions such as the arcade machines can eventually be put back into the space, but it will take a lot more than a few claw machines for Brother Willie’s to reach its goal. Some of the pub’s future improvements are dependent on support from students, the St. John’s Senate and university administration.

For example, one of the larger additions proposed by Gunderson is a roughly 22-foot screen and new projector. He estimated that a quality projector and screen could cost thousands of dollars, making the project dependent on available funding.

Rather than trying to complete everything at once, Gunderson plans to make improvements in stages.

“The big thing is, it’s not going to happen tomorrow,” Gunderson said. “This is going to take some time.”

The reopening is also prompting a closer look at the history behind the pub’s name.

When Gunderson first began working on the space, he said he realized he did not know who Brother Willie was. After speaking with Br. Eric Pohlman, the archivist on the St. Ben’s and St. John’s campuses, and looking through historical materials, he learned about Brother Willie, a monk who was known for his close relationship with students.

Br. William “Willie” Borgerding (1916-2009) served as a nighttime presence on campus and was known as the “Night Abbot.” According to the historical materials that Gunderson reviewed, he spent his nights walking around campus and was well-liked by students. Now, Gunderson hopes to incorporate that history into the pub itself through photographs, memorabilia and excerpts about Borgerding. He is also in search of wooden toys that Borgerding made while working in the woodshop, with hopes of displaying them in the pub.

Overall, for Gunderson, the goal is not to make Brother Willies’ Pub simply another place where students can drink.

“It’s not about the liquor. It’s not about the booze,” Gunderson said. “I want it to be about the experience here.”

That experience could eventually include personalized mugs for students. Gunderson hopes to have students receive an etched mug with their name and class year that would remain at Brother Willie’s until they graduate.

He also hopes that student involvement will become a major part of the pub’s development. One idea is to create a committee made up of students and St. John’s Senate members who could help plan events and decorate the space.

For now, the pub is still a work in progress. Some of the larger plans may take years to complete, while other additions could come as soon as funding and staffing allow. Culinary Services is currently looking to hire additional student bartenders, with plans to eventually add around seven more employees.

For students, staff members or alums who remember the pub before its years of inactivity, the reopening could mark the beginning of a different version of Brother Willie’s—one that combines its history with new ways for students to gather.

Gunderson hopes that students and administrators will be patient with the process and help demonstrate that Brother Willie’s Pub is worth investing in.

“Good things take time,” Gunderson said.

Join SJU Culinary Services for the Grand Reopening of Brother Willie’s Pub on Thursday, Oct. 15.