Proctor is getting a family-friendly Irish pub. It’s losing a longtime yoga studio

The second floor of the yellow Craftsman house in the heart of Tacoma’s Proctor District has been a restaurant for 30 years, and the ground floor has been home to a yoga studio for more than a decade. Things will change at the end of the month.

Tuladhara Yoga, which bought the studio that was Tacoma Yoga in 2019, will host its final class Dec. 23. The Snug Pub, originally planned for the existing restaurant space upstairs, will instead take over the whole building, focusing on the main floor.

Ann Evans, the wife of late Tacoma civic leader and Proctor booster Bill Evans, remains the owner of 2717 N. Proctor St. Her son, Paul Evans and his wife Andrea, are behind the family-friendly pub concept. They are planning a menu that blends burgers, sandwiches and four pizzas with Irish classics.

“No pub could be a pub without shepherd’s pie,” said Andrea Evans in a December phone call, but she added it won’t be wholly traditional.

They are also planning some unusual items like rattlesnake sausage on pizza and in pasta, a nod to the myth that St. Patrick drove snakes out of Ireland. (Historians say the island had been snake-free since at least the time of the ice ages, and scholars surmise that the St. Patrick legend was a religious allegory against the pagans.)

The couple owns a home-remodeling company, but they have long considered opening a pub. Paul grew up visiting his mother’s family dairy farm in Ireland, where he learned of “snugs,” a partitioned room where guests — particularly women, in an era that considered such a sight uncouth — could drink in peace.

“He just had a dream, before we even met, that he wanted to open up a pub called The Snug,” recalled his wife.

They imagined The Snug Pub on the second floor, which most recently was home to Crudo and Cotto, a contemporary Italian restaurant specializing in seafood that closed in February. Prior to that, it had been a soul-food spot and, for most of its life, a bistro best known as Old House Cafe under Bill Evans’ purview. As the younger Evans family got to work this spring, they encountered some unexpected challenges “bringing the building up to code,” according to Andrea.

They demolished the deck, in anticipation of constructing a new one with a covered portion upstairs, but had to abandon that plan. Then they learned the kitchen would require substantial upgrades to do what they wanted, and capacity would be lighter than they hoped.

YOGA STUDIO CLOSING TO MAKE WAY FOR RESTAURANT

Meanwhile, the yoga studio had muddled through months of on-and-off construction, according to owner Alicia Barrett, who also operates studios in Gig Harbor and Lakewood.

“If someone is practicing yoga and there’s a construction site above you, it’s detrimental to the business,” she said in December.

The Tacoma studio lost about half of its students. Barrett spoke with the Evans but felt she was given little recourse. Then, on Nov. 1, she received a letter informing her that the business, on a month-to-month lease, would have to vacate the main floor by Dec. 31. She was offered the upstairs, which Andrea Evans confirmed, but Barrett would have been responsible for all tenant improvements, which she said was not a viable option.

“Construction was going to continue downstairs instead of upstairs,” she added.

“This news is truly heartbreaking, as this location has been a beloved part of the Proctor community for over a decade,” she wrote in an official announcement shared just before Thanksgiving. “When I took on this responsibility during the pandemic, I was deeply committed to keeping this community together, and that commitment remains my priority today.”

Barrett is actively seeking a new permanent location in Tacoma, but she estimates it will take several months. Many of the Proctor studio’s students walked or biked to class, she told The News Tribune.

In the interim, Tualdhara will take up temporary residence in the natural light-filled back room of Manuscript and Dialogue in the Stadium District. As of Jan. 6, “we will be able to offer most of our original class times, with some exceptions.” Members will also receive a 10% discount at the attached restaurant. Those with memberships or passes can also visit the Lakewood or Gig Harbor studios, or hit pause.

In response to questions about the studio closure, Andrea Evans said that the “reality of a shared-use space — one being a yoga studio and one being an Irish pub — that’s definitely a hard mixture ... They have a lot of faithful students. Wherever they end up, I hope it goes really well.”

She also pointed to the limitations of having a restaurant on the second floor, including accessibility only via stairwell.

Since the last days of Old House Cafe, she continued, “Every restaurant that has occupied the space has really struggled to survive. It doesn’t lack for foot traffic, but it needed some redesigning. So that’s kind of an approach we’re taking, too … We’re builders, so this is what we do.”

THE SNUG PUB

▪ 2717 N. Proctor St., Tacoma

▪ Details: family-friendly Irish-American pub planned for main floor; target opening Spring 2025

Follow Tuladhara Yoga for updates on a new Tacoma studio and class times at Manuscript, 203 St. Helens Ave. The studios at 7304 Lakewood Dr. W. in Lakewood and at 4641 Point Fosdick Dr. in Gig Harbor will continue.

This story was originally published December 21, 2024 at 5:00 AM.