Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub Permanently Closed by Harvard College

The Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub, a Harvard-run undergraduate pub, will permanently close at the end of the 2023-24 academic year, the College announced Tuesday.

The closure was announced to student employees during a 6 p.m. full staff meeting on Tuesday.

Located in Loker Commons beneath Annenberg Hall, Harvard’s freshman dining hall, the Queen’s Head Pub opened in 2007 as a student-run social space that serves food, beer and wine, and hosts events.

The pub closed during the Covid-19 pandemic before reopening in the fall of 2022.

The decision to close the Queen’s Head Pub came after “careful consideration of the physical, personnel, and financial resources required to maintain operations,” according to an email from the Dean of Students Office and Harvard University Dining Halls.

“The College is closely considering how the space itself can continue to foster community, especially for those students living in the Yard,” the email stated.

“We are grateful to all who have made the pub a special place,” College spokesperson Alixandra A. Nozzolillo wrote in a statement.

“We have communicated with affiliates who worked at the pub about continued employment opportunities while we explore options to utilize the space for Harvard College students,” she added.

The announcement of closure comes “with gratitude for the years of community engagement, laughter, deep conversations, and shared beverages and meals,” Nozzolillo wrote.

In October, student employees at the pub voted alongside hundreds of other student workers to form the Harvard Undergraduate Workers Union-United Auto Workers, which includes over 400 students working at campus libraries, cafes, and the equity, diversity, and inclusion offices.

The pub’s staff members will have the first right of refusal for shifts at other Harvard-operated pubs and cafes such as the Harvard Law School Pub, Café Gato Rojo, Barker Café, and the Lamont Library Cafe, according to the Dean of Students Office email sent to students Tuesday.

—Staff writer Madeleine A. Hung can be reached at madeleine.hung@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.