Photo by Patrick Hansell for The Lafayette

Porter’s Pub has been a part of the Easton community since the 1980s.

In their 20s, Jeff, Larry and Ken Porter purchased a fixer-upper with the vision of turning it into a pub called Easton’s Publick House.

“What 20-year-old wouldn’t want to own a bar?” Jeff Porter said.

Porter’s Pub became a meeting place for patrons from near and far, known for its food, friendly faces and the “Mug Club.” Now, after 35 years of ownership, the Porter brothers have stepped down.

“We looked to the future of the pub and handing it off to the next stewards and dedicated our time and effort to seeing it, in the handover, occur as positively as possible as compared to selling out to someone from out of town,” Jeff Porter said.

Jeff Porter found connections to be very important when running a bar.

“Everyone wants to know who owns the restaurant, everyone wants to feel connected either to the bartender or the server or the owner,” Jeff Porter said. “You want to go to a place where people know who you are, where everyone knows your name.”

This connection led the brothers to choose their successors: Easton locals Christine and Ryan Piper.

The Pipers met while working at Porter’s in the early 2000s. The pub remained a key piece of their love story.

“Even on our wedding day … in between the wedding and the reception, we stopped in front of the pub and got a photo and we went in and had a drink,” Christine Piper said.

“The pub has just always been part of our lives and we’ve had a long-standing relationship with the Porter brothers,” she continued. 

Jeff Porter, who also met his wife at Porter’s  – “I was her waiter, and she was on a date which she didn’t realize was a date” – feels that the Pipers were the perfect people to take over.

“They are wonderful people with great energy and a lot of positive energy,” he said. 

When the Porter brothers approached the Pipers with the opportunity to buy the pub, the couple was shocked.

“We pretty much fell off our chairs because we never thought they would ever retire and we just couldn’t believe it,” Christine Piper said. “That was about six months ago and then my husband and I sat down and discussed it, and we just thought ‘We have to make this happen.’”

The Pipers are determined to preserve the legacy of Porter’s. 

“The brothers really built a legacy here and we’re humbled and honored to carry that torch into the future,” Ryan Piper said. “People come here. They’re not watching TV, they’re not on their cell phones, they’re engaged in great conversation with people not just from Easton, but from all over that stop in, people that have moved away and come back or people just coming in for the first time.”

The Pipers have been a part of the Easton community for decades. Christine Piper owns an advertising agency in the Silk Mill and is on the board of the Easton Business Association. Ryan Piper was raised on College Hill while his father John Piper coached wrestling at Lafayette.

“It’s important to us that we honor [John Piper’s] work at Lafayette too and try to kind of bring that full circle now owning the pub,” Christine Piper said.

The Pipers hope to continue fostering the pub’s relationship with the college. They are working on accepting Pard Dollars in the future.

“There’s been a Lafayette College pennant hanging up in the pub since the first day I walked through here,” Ryan Piper said.

“We want to be part of the Lafayette students’ college memories,” Christine Piper said. “We want them, when they come back, to bring their families years later. We want them to know that they’re welcomed and we are excited to bring this next chapter of the pub to the community—not just Easton but also the Lafayette community.”