Charlie Shook · Since 1974
Fifty years of feeding Akron
Some pubs have a story. Ours has been cooking since 1974.
Charlie starts cooking for Akron
Long before the pub, Charlie Shook was catering the Akron area — first as the owner of Charlie's Restaurant and the Around The Clock restaurants. Fifty-plus years later, the roast beef is still the specialty and Charlie still knows most of the room by name.
Houston Hall opens
The banquet hall came first: weddings, showers, banquets — and eventually a stage. These days it even hosts live theater, with Charlie himself taking roles at Charlie's Place. See the Hall.
The pub upstairs
Houston Pub opened above the Hall with a simple idea: old school taste, Norton made. Scratch kitchen, honest prices, cold drafts, darts on the wall and a patio out back.
The next generation
Charlie's son Michael runs the day-to-day now, keeping the kitchen and the Hall moving. Charlie? He still greets tables, sits down for a story, and takes the stage when Charlie's Place puts on a show. Ask a regular — odds are he introduced himself their first visit too.
The crew
The folks who run the room
Regulars don't just have a favorite table here — they have a favorite person. Margo, LeeAnn, Courtney and Jackie run the floor; Shannan holds down the bar (solo on the busy days, and you'd never know it); and Andrew — a regular who never really left — hosts trivia on Wednesdays.
The pub the neighborhood built
Community, weekly
Karaoke Tuesdays, trivia Wednesdays, wings when Cleveland plays. Kegs & Eggs in the spring, Oktoberfest in the fall, a customer-appreciation Christmas party, and theater runs downstairs at the Hall. The weekly rhythm lives here.
The room itself
Why it looks the way it does
Dartboards on the paneling, a stained-glass BAR lamp over the taps, Cleveland on the TVs, string lights over the covered patio — and now a teal building you genuinely can't miss. Unassuming outside, warm inside. That's the whole idea.
Charlie's usually around.
