Ri Ra Pub in Portsmouth to Be Among Those Restaurants to Close

It is with a heavy heart that reporting from seacoastonline.com has announced the permanent closure of Ri Ra Irish Pub in Portsmouth. This is just one of many restaurants that could not survive the COVID-19 closures. There will be more to come. Ri Ra Irish Pub is just one of the many signs of the economic toll the virus has had on our community. The Ri Ra Irish Pub was one of a kind. The bar area was built with wood salvaged from Ireland that gave the location a true feeling that you were being transported back in time and space to a 19^th century Irish Pub.

According to seacoastonline.com, Ri Ra posted on its Facebook page that the landlord was very supportive, but Ri Ra just couldn’t see a path forward to open. They went on to say “We would like to thank our amazing Portsmouth team from the bottom of our hearts. It’s the people that make any pub great, and we had some of the best.” The Ri Ra was truly a one of a kind Pub and its patrons will sorely miss it.

We have had so much tragedy from this insidious virus from the loss of so many lives to the loss of so many livelihoods. The Portsmouth bar and restaurant scene will be much changed upon a full-scale reopening. Of course, is it the loss of life that we feel most acutely. In the coming months, I hope more restaurants and pubs will fight to survive. It’s becoming very clear that we won’t be going back to normal any time soon.