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Middle 8, a cocktail bar and lounge located in downtown Pleasanton, announced last Friday that it will be ceasing operations after this Sunday (Jan. 11).
Rick Dobbs, longtime Pleasanton resident and owner of Middle 8, told the Weekly Monday evening that the main reasons behind the closure were rising operational costs, low foot traffic and very high rent increases.
“Our revenue just hasn’t kept pace with the rising costs and our very high rent increases (we would have had to do 300% more revenue to justify our rent),” Dobbs wrote in a Jan. 2 social media post, where he first announced the closure of his business.
“The rent is, basically, Walnut Creek prices but we just don’t have the Walnut Creek traffic around here,” Dobbs told the Weekly.
Known for its ’70s aesthetic, live music and quirky cocktail names such as the “Porn Star Martini” or the “Macarena Me Crazy”, Middle 8 — located at 310 Main St. — first opened its doors in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2021 having replaced the former Bollinger Nail Salon.
Since opening, Dobbs noted that the bar and lounge has won four “Best of the East Bay” awards from Diablo Magazine.
“We had people get engaged there, we saw a thousand first dates, we had built some great regulars,” Dobbs continued. “The thing I really loved about the place is that it was a safe space for a lot of people. The diversity you would see when you walked in on a Friday and Saturday night was the thing I’m really proud of.”
But despite the accolades and unique menu, Dobbs said it just wasn’t enough to bring in the revenue needed to stay open.
He attributed Pleasanton’s changing demographic, higher insurance rates, outside costs and a trend of less people drinking or socializing as a “perfect storm” of reasons for why he’s shutting down his business.
Dobbs added that opening during the pandemic was challenging in that many of the plans he had for the space fell through. “This bar has never been easy,” he said.
However, Dobbs said this doesn’t quite mean the end of Middle 8 as he is currently looking for investors and other spaces to reopen. He said relocating the business would be somewhat simpler of a transition because he owns all the equipment inside the bar so he hopes to continue serving the community, as they have been, and looks forward to seeing everyone again at a new location.
This now marks the latest in a list of notable closures on Main Street in less than a year including the departure of Starbucks from its Main Street storefront last July, PRIMM Boutique leaving Pleasanton and the more recent closure of Main Street Brewery on the opposite end of Main Street in September.
The closure also comes on the heels of a recent City Council discussion which left officials hopeful for the city’s economic future heading into 2026.
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