Les & Doreen’s Happy Tap

Meeting at the bar you’ll one day own together is about as romantic as a dive bar-based story can get and such is the case for Les & Doreen's Happy Tap, the bar a product of the union between Les & Doreen Thompson, who met at what was then the Happy Tap where Doreen was a bartender. Doreen’s mother recruited her to work at the bar, hoping to keep an eye on her during bartending shifts. Doreen started in the kitchen at the age of 13 before eventually transitioning into a role as bartender after turning 21.

As dive bar fate would have it, Doreen met Les Thompson during the late 1970s during her time as a bartender. The two married shortly after and decided in 1986 to buy Kelly’s Happy Tap, renaming it, of course, to Les & Doreen's Happy Tap. Doreen lived within walking distance of the bar at that time and continues to do so today, part of what has turned into a lifelong commitment to the bar and to its Fishtown community. Unfortunately, Les passed away in 2006, leaving Doreen as the guiding hand of the Philadelphia dive bar.

Thankfully, little has changed over the years in stark contrast to the Fishtown neighborhood that has transformed considerably over the life of Les & Doreen's Happy Tap. In a style very befitting of a Philadelphia dive bar, the front door is cut into the corner of the building, sitting under the simple sign that signals the bar’s existence. The sign is original to the opening of the bar, hanging over the sidewalk adjacent to Les & Doreen's Happy Tap’s corner location.

One similarly enduring tradition is weekly karaoke, a multi-decade affair that takes place at 9:30 PM every Saturday night. The fact that karaoke can even squeeze into the narrow confines of Les & Doreen's Happy Tap is impressive, proximity adding to the energy of the performances.

Doreen’s heritage is Irish, manifested inside the bar through green paint and ample themed decorations ranging from shamrocks to leprechauns. The rest of Les & Doreen's Happy Tap is fairly straightforward, a single long room housing an equally long bar underneath a stamped metal roof and a handful of fans. Drink specials are inscribed on dry erase boards behind the bar and often include Jell-O shots and of course the usual Philadelphia “City Wide” special of a shot and a beer.

Community events at Les & Doreen's Happy Tap range from chili cookoffs to that time-tested dive bar tradition of judging Easter bonnets. Food pop-ups rotate similarly to the varied event calendar, past offerings including breakfast sandwiches, cheesesteak egg rolls and even the occasional lobster roll. Early morning opening hours, a tradition linked to a more active third-shift community in years past that today is offered as part of a “Breakfast Club” event each weekend featuring drink specials.