This great local bar is turning 50 this year. Here is the press release announcing its golden anniversary.
Denny's Bar in Kensington Celebrating a Golden Time in 2025
The local tavern has served patrons since 1975.
If you come into Denny's bar in Kensington when owner Kevin Ryan is working, he may be sporting an old--but well-kept--T-shirt marking his bar's 25th anniversary. The fact the family business hung around that long is certainly something to be proud of.
But this piece of Brooklyn's rich tavern history is turning 50 in the Fall of 2025--a feat not accomplished by many in a borough not short of neighborhood saloons.
Located at 106 Beverley Road at the corner of Church and MacDonald avenues in Kensington, Brooklyn, Denny's first opened its doors in 1975 when it was known as Denny's Steak Pub. The proud-to-be old-school spot's origin story actually dates back to the early 1960s when Ryan's father, Dennis, opened and operated Denny's Park Slope Tavern on 9th Street and 7th Avenue until moving the business to Kensington. As for the steaks, they stopped serving those around 1990 when Ryan took over after his father passed away in 1989.
Ryan remembers his father working "behind the stick" (an old saying for bartending) always in a shirt and tie, like a conductor in a symphony. Ryan himself has spent a good portion of his life there, first working as a 16-year-old dishwasher, then a busboy, a waiter, and ultimately a bartender when he turned 18. Ryan said his father often hired kids from the neighborhood to work in the restaurant end of the business.
Ryan knows the man who worked so hard to build Denny's from the ground up would be proud it is still around a half-century later.
"My father was a natural barman and was beloved. It is what he was born to do," Ryan said. "As for me taking over after his untimely passing, I'm sure he would say, 'Ya done good son, but I would have done it better,'" And you know, he's probably right."
Today, the local spot located just outside the G and F subway entrance caters to locals and loyal regulars--some who have frequented both locations. On any given day customers will be enjoying cheap drinks and conversation, watching (and debating) sports shown on several TVs around the bar, playing (and debating) the music choices on the jukebox, and shooting pool and darts. The mission statement has been effective: keep it simple and give the people what they want.
Over the years, Ryan--also a retired New York City fireman who also worked as a police officer--and his family and friends who have helped run the business have also given back to the community that has supported them since Gerald Ford was president and gas was 50 cents. They have held Christmas toy drives for children and stay involved with the neighborhood.
Denny's will celebrate the golden anniversary October 10 and 11 with throwback drink prices, a disco party, food, and fun.
And, of course, Ryan will also be ordering new T-shirts for himself and his longtime customers to celebrate with.
Denny's Bar is located at 106 Beverley Road in Kensington, Brooklyn, and is open seven days a week, from 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. on weekdays and from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. on weekends. read more