After closing downtown Orlando locations in April, Pups Pub, a full liqueur sports bar and dog park, will open a new location in Clermont.
Pups Pub has signed a 10-year online lease agreement for 898 W. Montrose St., located in downtown, a former car store, according to a report from GrowthSpotter. Property owners Issam and Nadia Harb purchased the location for $1.05 million in a deal brokered by Orlando Real Estate Firm Sittineri Group.
“I think this use is very interesting. I think it was relatively quiet for a long time in parts of downtown Clermont. That corner and its intersection really needed a driver from afternoon to evening.”
Sheila Suhar, co-owner of Pups Pub along with her husband, Alex Wright, said their focus is to continue their business in a growing community.
“That’s kind of why I chose Clermont first and foremost, and I look at everything there is and plans for the future,” she said. “I think Pups Pub will be a huge addition to the growth of that community. Excitement is an understatement to say the least.”
Suhar and Wright opened their first location in Tampa in December 2020 with the help of Wright’s best friend Trevor Trackett.
The trio established the Pups Pub as an off-leesh location for dogs to roam freely.
Following its early success with early tampa products, Suhar opened its second Pups Pub in downtown Orlando in June 2022.
The downtown Orlando location is at 317 N. Orange Avenue and was closed in April on Pups Pub, citing rising challenges such as “crime, homelessness, drug activity, something that feels like close to the weekly shooting.”
Just a month later, in early June, the original Pups Pub location in Tampa was closed after a long legal battle with the Florida Department of Health.
With approval from FDOH, in 2020, the Pups Pub business collided with a new state interpretation of the rules governing indoor dog bars in 2022. “We are banning dogs from indoor areas that share the same structure as the bar and from indoor areas where food and drinks are not served.
The Florida Administrative Hearing governed the upholding of Pups Pub in the 2023 rule challenge, but FDOH appealed the ruling. The state’s court of appeals overturned a state administrative court’s decision in April this year, forcing the Tampa location on Pups Pub to be closed.
Pups Pub was one of several companies offering to lease the Montrose Street location in Clermont, starting to look elsewhere to advance the shift state mandate.
“We got some offers to lease, and Pups Pub was one of them,” Sittineri said. “But considering where they were in their lives, the (former) owners were really not interested in making long-term leases.”
According to Sittineri, after pitching the property to various future companies and individuals in the network, he and his company secured the property buyer and then returned to offer a long-term lease agreement to Pups Pub.
Suhar said the big difference between the upcoming Clermont site and the previous Pups Pub location is the layout of the building, which includes more outdoor space.
“Essentially, we’ll be outdoors, but there’s no particular indoor space as we have an outdoor patio,” she said. “It’s going to be climate controlled. It’s going to have a big emphasis on the covered outdoor patio section.”
According to Suhar, guests can predict numerous community events at the new Pups Pub throughout the year, including adoption and charity events, local pet markets, holiday gatherings, special themed events and dog birthday “Pawties.”
Pups Pub Clermont is “shooting” the December 2025 opening, Suhar said there are tentative plans to open its latest in January 2026.
“Pups Pub Clermont serves as a lively social hub, offering people and their puppies a much-needed “third place” where they can connect, enjoy cold drinks, catch games, meet new friends and create great memories together,” Suhar says. “The equal part-dog park, sports bar and unparalleled atmosphere are thrilled to bring Pups Pub to Clermont downtown.”
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