Old English, Embracing Roots While Pushing Ahead
In some ways, it’s strange that there aren’t more places like the Olde English Pub in Albany, but it is utterly unique; its very existence is almost an accident of fate.
The Olde English Pub, you see, has one foot comfortably planted centuries into the past, with the other stepping toward the future. Albany, after all, is one of the oldest continuously thriving towns in America, with centuries worth of commerce and humming life behind it. The area was taken over by Europeans in 1614, after being settled first by Native American tribes, including the Algonquians and Mohicans, centuries earlier. Albany was officially chartered as a city in 1686.
“Sometimes it’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that our bar is probably the oldest continually operating building in Albany,” says Greta Graydon, who runs the pub day-to-day, and helps build the food and drinks menu. “At the same time, we spend a lot of our time thinking about our guests today, and tomorrow.”
The idea of looking backward, straight ahead and into the future all at the same time would be enough to give most people whiplash, but constant change is always on the menu at (successful) establishments devoted to slaking the public’s thirst and sating its hunger.
“Most of us involved in Olde English have worked in the food and drinks world for their career,” Graydon says, explaining that she co-owns it with her ex-husband, Mark Graydon, and business partners Jimmy Vann and Demetra Vann. Matt Baumgarten is also invested. “We understand just how consumer needs and preferences change. Originally, we created the Pub because Mark, who is English, missed having a classic English pub to go to.”
And having worked in, co-founded and/or co-owned dozens of bars and restaurants across the U.S. and Europe (they met in Europe), Mark and Greta knew there was something extra special about this space.
Long Legacy of the Quackenbush House
The building the Olde English is housed in was built in 1736, and is known locally as the Quackenbush House for the Dutch family who lived there for 100-plus years. The home’s first resident was Pieter Quackenbush, and he ran a brickyard, essentially in his own backyard; it is possible that some of the rich clay bricks—which in turn came from the nearby Hudson River—came from his personal cache.
Pieter’s descendants, including Hendrick (Henry) Quackenbush, a colonel in the Revolutionary Army, lived in the home until 1864, when it entered its commercial era. Since then, the space has hosted a bakery, antique store, drug store, lithographer, furniture store and more.
The space had a near-death experience in the 1970s, with New York State planning to replace it with a highway ramp. John “Jack” McEneny, a young city worker who went on to serve in the New York Assembly from 1993—2012, saved it from destruction.
“Without his forethought, this structure wouldn’t exist,” Graydon explains. “Interestingly, his daughter Maeve McEneny works next door at Discover Albany. We love that connection, and we’re lucky to have them next door pointing visitors in our direction as both a historical landmark and a great place to get a meal. We have kids in here all the time working on school projects, and other people who are descendants of the Quackenbushes popping in. Its history makes itself felt every day.”
Sometimes, in unexpected ways. Maeve, in addition to pointing folks over to the pub for drinks and a sandwich, also founded the Original Albany Ghost Tour, which includes information on haunted happenings around town, including at the pub.
“I’ve never personally experienced anything paranormal, but some of our employees have,” Graydon says. “Luckily, it’s not bad. It’s just a sense of people walking through the house. No threat, just a presence.”
The Olde English Pub just celebrated its 10th anniversary, and in a decade, it has evolved considerably. There’s still the ancient brick exterior, warm as a hug, formal black shutters, a merry interior festooned with Union Jack flags and glistening amber wooden counters and tables. But how, when and what they serve has changed.
“Once we got the business really up and running, it was steady but not necessarily growing,” Graydon says. “I left my day job at the state and focused on the pub full-time. We started getting calls and requests for brunches and special events, and we realized we had to go big or we’d never really grow.”
‘An Almost Mystical Feel’
Seven years ago, they opened up the garden space, and business skyrocketed. With overflowing flower-boxes, a bright-red phone booth, fairy lights at night, red umbrella awnings, black iron tables and enough space to host parties of 100, the garden has, Graydon says, “an almost mystical feel.”
In the past few years as other restaurants and bars created stamp-size perches on sidewalks to contend with the challenges of COVID, the pub doubled down on their space, zhuzhing up the exterior with “easy to maintain” and Instagram-ready petunias and ferns, while also extending patio dining season with heating lamps.
Their food and drinks also feel very of the moment.
Majestic Shepherd’s Pies and Serious Mocktails
The servings of food are hearty, and of the fresh and seasonal but stick-to-your-ribs variety one wants in their favorite cozy local: Think majestic shepherd’s pies, jolly bangers and fluffy mash, gorgeously golden fried cod and addictively salty and crisp “chips,” 1,000 gallons of sauces and dips, the occasional handful of kale leaves thrown about for good measure.
“We get as much as we can locally, but because having an English pub is important to us, we also offer a lot of classic imported English beers you can’t get other places,” she says. So next to a Common Roots IPA, a Frog Alley Vienna Lager and a 9 Miles East seasonal cider, you can grab a pint of Old Speckled Hen Pale Ale and a Wee Heavy Scotch Ale.
But what Graydon is most excited about is the least English and the least traditional item on the menu.
“I am not drinking alcohol anymore, and I got so tired of being infantilized at bars and restaurants,” Graydon says. “No, I don’t want juice, and I don’t want a Shirley Temple. I want an adult cocktail, without alcohol.”
Instead of making one or two, she created a rotating line of seasonal mocktails that she and the bartenders take dead seriously.
“We use egg whites, housemade syrups, specialty ingredients, fruit purees and herbs,” she says. “The response has been outstanding. We want to celebrate everyone, and this makes the designated driver, the under 21s, the nondrinkers, the pregnant, people who just want to take a night off, feel like they can indulge and celebrate. Like adults.”
The river that shaped much of the region’s commerce, culture and history may have literally helped build the house in which you’re nursing that mock- or cocktail. Definitely something to discuss over locally sourced libations.
Visit the Olde Albany Pub at 683 Broadway in Albany. TheOldeEnglish.com
