Decades-old pub in Euljiro fades into history

Choi Soo-young, owner of Eulji OB Bear, speaks during an anti-eviction rally. Courtesy of Cheonggyecheon Anti-Gentrification Alliance

Pub credited with initiating Korea's unique beer culture forced to close after losing legal battle

By Lee Hae-rin

A small, time-honored pub tucked away in an alley packed with back-to-back stores, near Euljiro 3-ga Station on Seoul Metro lines 2 and 3, is decorated with warning messages signed by the owner of the building.

"Transfer of this estate has been completed since April 21, 2022, upon court order. Accordingly, hereafter, those who enter this store without permission from the owner will be subject to punishment according to related laws," the note reads.

Three copies of the warning note typed and signed by the owner of the building were put up here and there around the exterior of the time-honored brick storefront. With its sign removed, it looks derelict.

The now closed 20-square-meter pub was once a popular place for ironmongers working in the neighborhood's alleys. After long hours of manual work, those blue-collar workers would come by in the evening for drinks. Drinking draft beer served with dried pollack, better known as "nogari" in Korean, was a luxury the low-paid workers used to enjoy.

That privilege, however, is now non-existent following a court order issued on April 21 that evicted the initial tenant of Eulji OB Bear, a four-decade-old pub.

This photo shows a bleak scene of the time-honored pub, Eulji OB Bear, on April 25, four days after it was forced to close. Warning messages from the owner of the building are put up around the exterior. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

Its founder Kang Hyo-keun, now 96, is an industry pioneer credited with initiating the unique drinking culture where beer is served with nogari.

He first introduced the unique way of enjoying cold draft beer with the dried fish in 1981, a year after he opened the store as a backstreet bar, due to the Fair Trade Commission's decision to ban beverage suppliers from providing snacks. Kang devised his original recipe of nogari with a peppery sauce to replace the peanuts and other snacks that the pub had been providing. Drinking beer with nogari caught on, prompting others to start similar businesses in the area.

With the iconic beer culture cultivated there, the region has emerged in recent years as a hip place for young trendsetters. They are great in number and you can see them seated at dozens of plastic tables set up in the alley in front of the pub.

"Prior to when he first opened here in 1980, there was no pub in this alley. It was just an ordinary backstreet in Euljiro filled with printing shops, ironmongers and industrial tool traders," Choi Soo-young, the second-generation owner of Eulji OB Bear, told The Korea Times on Wednesday. Choi and his wife inherited the pub in 2013 when his father-in-law retired. It has been a booming family business.

Choi said his father-in-law is a thoughtful, diligent man.

"He would wake up early every morning to sweep the alley. Such dedication was his way of saying he is not a stranger but a true member of this community," Choi said, referring to Kang, the pub's first-generation owner and his father-in-law.

The pub had been stubbornly sticking to its opening hours and low prices to ease the financial burden of its main clients. Kang would close the pub at 10 p.m. and sent his clients home to spend more time with their families. Some insisted on extending the closing time, but he turned a deaf ear.

The price of nogari had remained at 1,000 won (80 cents) for decades until it was hiked to 1,500 won recently.

Choi said his father-in-law's commitment and principled operation of the pub demonstrate how it came to share a special bond with its decades-old clientele.

This file photo shows beer taps of Eulji OB Bear, the region's oldest pub that was forced to close on April 21 following a court-ordered eviction. Newsis

Choi and his wife adhered to the pub's old ways until recently in 2016, when the couple convinced Kang to allow an extension of its opening hours to 11 p.m. due to growing requests from the regulars, while still keeping prices low.

For 42 years, the 20-meter-square stand-up bar has been an oasis for the region's industrial workers, delivery men and other neighbors. The tavern and its customers have lived through the country's industrialization history and built the alley's pub culture together, Choi said.

The pub's bona fide recipe to clean and dress the fish carefully by hand and roast it over briquettes also drew popularity, Choi said. By the end of the 20th century, several similar pubs sprouted up in the area, creating today's Nogari Alley. It has drawn people of all generations who seek a chill evening hangout with a good draft beer.

In 2015, the alley was designated as a Seoul Future Heritage site by the Seoul Metropolitan Government for its rich history. The heritage and brand value of Eulji OB Bear was recognized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in 2018 and chosen as a "100-year store," being rewarded with a special plaque at its entrance.

When the retro fever hit the country around 2018, the young generation renamed the area "Hip-jiro," which is a portmanteau of "hip" and "Euljiro," and flocked in for the alley's open-air, en masse drinking culture and peculiar, enduring atmosphere, bringing a short economic revival before the pandemic.

That legacy has since disappeared after Choi's family lost in the legal battle against the owner of the building who demanded they end the decades-long contract and leave.

The legal battle began in 2018 when then owner of a neighboring pub identified by his surname Bang bought out the building and gave them a unilateral eviction notice, refusing to renew the contract. Choi and his wife tried to persuade Bang and even offered to double the monthly rent payments to keep doing business there, but the owner turned down the couple's request flatly and took legal action against them, which they lost. The man that neighbors and pub employees pointed out as Bang denied it was him and refused to be interviewed by The Korea Times.

Choi said his family is devastated to lose the pub, which has become an intergeneration family business and a hard-earned legacy, stemming from the first owner's philosophy to treat neighbors as his own family.

On April 21 at 4 a.m., a group of about 70 men hired by the Seoul Central District Court came up the street and carried out forced eviction of Eulji OB Bear.

Choi's 27-year-old son and two activists who stayed up all night in solidarity with the family were violently pushed down on the asphalt ground and seriously injured. The door and window were broken and all tableware was taken out of the site.

The court-ordered eviction was a heart-wrenching experience for the owners. But there was nothing they could do to save the decades-old pub.

There are others who share the pain of the heritage site disappearing.

Activists rally against the forced closure of Eulji OB Bear in Seoul on April 25. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin

A group of supporters and old regulars have gathered every evening at the site of the closed tavern to protest its eviction and raise awareness of the dispute and the neighborhood's dying nightlife.

These events take different forms and sizes each day. Artists, DJs, activists, the street's old-time regulars and others who feel sympathy over Eulji OB Bear's demolition gather in solidarity every evening to hand out flyers, hold Christian worship, and perform live music or poetry readings to convey the message of peaceful coexistence.