Beale Street Barbeque and Grill at 215 Water St. in Bath closed earlier this week after 25 years in business.  Owner Michael Quigg said his decision to retire came before the COVID-19 pandemic. Darcie Moore / The Times Record

Barbeque lovers in Bath will have to look elsewhere for pulled pork and smoked ribs. Beale Street Barbeque and Grille in downtown Bath has closed.

Owner Michael Quigg announced the closure after 25 years in business in a social media post on Tuesday. In the message, Quigg relived the restaurant’s busy first day in business in May 1996, which he wrote gave him “a deep sense of pride and awe in what we had accomplished.”

“That feeling I had more than 25 years ago has never left me,” Quigg wrote in the online post. “Today, after closing those doors for good, I am still in awe and full of pride.”

“I know my closing of the restaurant is sad for many people, but it is not so for me,” Quigg continued. “It was all far too good to be sad about. There is only one reason for my choice and it is a personal decision of how I want to spend the rest of my life.”

Though the building is currently under contract and undergoing inspections, Quigg declined to say who the buyer is or what their plans for the building are.

Before the brick and mortar location landed in Bath, Quigg said Beale Street Barbeque and Grill started as a roadside stand that he took over from his brother. He said he, joined by his younger brother and wife, worked to open the Bath location to provide for his young family.

The barbecue restaurant opened in the Thomas Hyde Block on Water Street in Bath in May 1996. At the time, Quigg said he lived in the apartment on the second floor, which also held office space for the restaurant.

Quigg didn’t own the building until early January 2021 when longtime owner Sagadahock Real Estate Association sold the building. The sale signified the end of an era for the association, which had owned most of downtown Bath’s commercial properties for more than a century. The company started selling each of its 18 buildings in September 2017, and the Hyde Block was the last to be sold.

After the Bath location opened, Quigg said the business opened two other Beale Street locations: one in Augusta, and one in South Portland. The business also had a catering service and Beale Street products sold in local grocery stores.

The South Portland location was later sold and rebranded as SoPo Bar and Grill, which eventually closed.

Quigg’s brother still runs the Augusta location, which was rebranded as Riverfront Barbeque and Grille.

Despite the business’s growth over two decades, Quigg said the original Bath location was “always the center of everything we did.” In 2009, he said he started pulling out of the markets in order to have more control over the company.

Quigg said he was ready to close the Bath restaurant and step away from the restaurant industry, but chose not to sell the name or business. He also said he still has some equipment necessary to do the occasional catering gig or roadside stand in the future, should he want to.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions placed a barrage of challenges on the restaurant industry and staying afloat wasn’t easy, Quigg said his decision to retire the restaurant came before the pandemic. The labor shortage and seating restrictions the COVID-19 pandemic brought, however, did act as “an aggravating factor” in his decision to step away from the industry, he said.

“I’ve had a personal goal that 25 years is a great run for a great restaurant,” said Quigg. “For us, we’ve had a great time with the staff and guests we’ve had. This is just the right time for us. I understand that people may be sad, but for us, it’s our happily ever after.”

Aside from filling stomachs, connecting with the community and striving to treat his staff well, Quigg said he’s proud of how far barbecue restaurants have come in Maine in 25 years.

“I think we set a high standard for barbecue in Maine and I think that’s part of why Maine has such good barbecue now,” said Quigg. “We’ve raised a generation of people eating barbecue in Maine. I’ve had a blast, but at this point in the game I think I’ve accomplished everything I can.”

With Beale Street closed, if Bath residents need to quench their craving for brisket, ribs or pulled pork, the next closest barbecue restaurant is Buck’s Naked BBQ in Freeport.

Beale Street isn’t the first Midcoast restaurant to close during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Around the corner on Lambard Street, the Starlight Café, a beloved breakfast and lunch spot, closed in May 2020 after 23 years in business. Dawn Baise, who had owned the restaurant for three years before the closure, said she decided to announce the closure after seeing sales plummet in March 2020, then stop altogether the following month.

In May 2020, Benchwarmers Sports Pub on Maine Street in Brunswick announced online that it would close due to “restrictions in place due to COVID-19.”

The following month, Maine Street Sweets and Timeless Cottage, also in Brunswick, announced they would close their doors by the end of June.

In October 2020, Henry and Marty Restaurant and Catering in Brunswick announced its closure after 13 years in business.