Freeman's Grub & Pub

Freeman's Grub & Pub is a pub and restaurant on Spring Garden Street, at its corner with Chapman Street, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Kevin and Emily Purcell own it, and it pairs pub food with global influences with craft beer and cocktails.

The pub occupies a brick building from 1911 that once housed the D.S. Freeman General Store. Inside, the room is small, and tables outdoors add space when the weather allows. The Purcells sum up their approach as elevated simplicity, a phrase that fits a kitchen working from a short list of pub favourites rather than a tasting format. The old general store and the bar of today share the same walls, and the age of the building gives the plain food a setting with some history behind it.

Sandwiches are the core of the kitchen's work, alongside barbecue such as pulled pork and smoked beef brisket. Vegan diners have their own versions of both a jerk chicken and a pulled pork, made without meat. New specials appear every week, so the fixed list of sandwiches and barbecue is joined by dishes that come and go. That rhythm keeps the board moving without changing the character of the place.

Behind the bar a long list of craft beers stands beside specialty cocktails, and the liquor infusions used in the drinks are made in the cellar. Yelp put Freeman’s on its national list of the Top 100 places to eat in 2023, and the pub appeared on the list again the following year. Rankings of that kind come from diners’ reviews rather than from critics, and they place a neighbourhood pub with sandwiches and brisket in the same company as far more formal restaurants.