Lowell After Dark: One Old Tavern, One Plan Home

The Worthen House has been pouring since 1898, and that is the whole case for coming to Lowell. Everything else downtown is a second stop. On Friday and Saturday the bar stays open until 2am. That is long after you should have checked the last train. Decide how you are leaving before you decide where you are eating.

A city that was built to work, and now has to entertain

Lowell is a mill town that kept its buildings, and the night out here is built from them. The National Park Service says Lowell's water-powered textile mills catapulted the nation into a new industrial era. The park's site says the Lowell Folk Festival brings traditional folk performers to 5 stages throughout the city.

That history is why the best rooms here are old ones. A night in Lowell works best as a walk through preserved buildings with a drink in each, not as a hunt for the newest bar. The rest of this piece sorts those buildings by what they are good for.

The tavern that does not need a gimmick

Worthen House Cafe on Worthen Street is the anchor, and it is old enough to have a legend. The Globe borrows a Cheers line for it: “everybody knows your name, including Jack Kerouac and Edgar Allan Poe”. The bar's own site is more careful, saying only that a few patrons are said to have included Poe, Kerouac and Jimmy Breslin. We cannot verify the legend. The room is a different matter, and you can check it yourself.

The building went up in 1834, and the tavern came sixty-four years later. Inside, the bar says its belt-linked fan system is the only set still in its original building in the country. The site also says the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Look up at the pressed tin ceiling.

Upstairs is the Worthen Attic, which hosts live music, theatre and comedy shows. Private bookings there top out at up to 68 people. Check the calendar for your night before you climb the stairs.

Eat before the bar crowd does

It opens daily at 11am. The kitchen is open till 9pm daily. That gap matters on the weekend, because the bar runs hours past the kitchen, so anyone planning to eat at midnight is planning wrong.

It also matters midweek, in the other direction. The same page lists the bar open until 12am Sunday to Thursday. Lowell's flagship tavern closes two hours earlier on a Tuesday than on a Saturday, so a weeknight here is a dinner and one more drink, not a late night. Boston's own closing hour is a separate story, told in why Boston closes at 2 AM. Dinner first, then the second stop.

Pick a second stop by the day of the week

The choice is not hard once you know the day.

Old Court Irish Pub & Restaurant calls itself an authentic Irish pub and restaurant. It has been going since February, 2001, which makes it a newcomer next to the Worthen. It is the Tuesday answer, because of the pub quiz. The kitchen is open Tuesday through Saturday, so do not expect a plate on a Sunday or Monday.

Cobblestones of Lowell is the restaurant and bar pick for a weeknight. It opens Monday to Thursday at 4pm. On Friday and Saturday it opens at noon. It also lists a Sunday brunch, which is a decent way to end the weekend.

Blue Shamrock on Market Street was established on March 15, 1996. It sits inside what it calls a former harness factory. The same page describes Gemstones, a night club and concert venue. They share a site and they are not the same night, so know which door you are walking through. This is the room for a loud late stop, and the other three are for talking.

The arenas are a different trip

The Lowell Memorial Auditorium is the building to read about before you buy a ticket. Its history page says the plan was a monument that would honor local Veterans of all wars. The same page puts the cost at approximately $1,000,000. It says the building was dedicated on September 21, 1922.

It was bigger then. The history page describes a seating capacity in the main auditorium for 4,000 in the original building. A later renovation took out the balcony behind the stage so bigger touring shows could play, which meant it had to reduce the seating capacity from 4,000 to 3,000 seats. That is the figure Lowell Memorial Auditorium gives for itself; Wikipedia lists a capacity of 2,800, so treat either as approximate. Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell seats about 6,500 for hockey and 7,800 for concerts.

Those numbers mean a show night is a crowd night, with everyone leaving at once. A tavern holding dozens and an arena holding thousands are different trips, so plan a ride between them rather than a walk.

A Kerouac detour, if you like your night with a reason

Lowell's other claim is literary. The Lowell Celebrates Kerouac festival lists Kerouac's most notable locations and history among its tours. If you want a reason to be downtown before dark, that is a better one than the bar, and it keeps the evening from being only a drinking route.

The way home is the real plan

The MBTA Lowell Line runs from North Station to Lowell. Commuter rail runs less often than the subway, so check the last train before you settle in. Our late MBTA guide has the Lowell Line departures we pulled from the MBTA's schedule data. The MBTA lists one-way commuter fares from Zone 1A to Zone 10 at $2.40 to $13.25, so look up your own zone before you pay.

Most people drive or take a rideshare. If you are driving, one person does not drink, and that person is chosen before dinner. Check the MBTA Trip Planner before you count on a train, and read getting home after last call for backups.

If you are staying on the T side of the map, Last Train shows the actual departures. For another small-city night that needs the same plan, see the North Shore night out and Salem at night beyond October.