Latest / Best of: Features / It’s special: Philly-style dive bar in London a hit with Eagles fans from US and UK

Transcript

It’s special: Philly-style dive bar in London a hit with Eagles fans from US and UK · Best of: Features

• 0:05
  Its special, Philly Style Dive Bar in London, a hit with Eagles
• 0:08
  fans from US and UK. Written by Ken Maguire. This article is
• 0:14
  being read by an automated voice generated by Everlet. London, the AP.
• 0:20
  A stuffed Philly fanatic mascot doll sits perched atop a New England
• 0:23
  Patriots helmet near a shrine to Nick Foles. The Cudley Toys legs
• 0:28
  cover most, but not all, of the choice messages written in marker
• 0:31
  on the vandalized silver helmet. Tom Brady is a favorite target. Welcome
• 0:35
  to Passionk Avenue. The dive bar named after a well known South
• 0:39
  Philadelphia street, has become a go to spot for curious British sports
• 0:44
  fans as well as traveling Eagles supporters, especially this week ahead of
• 0:48
  the team's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. For Eagles season ticket holder
• 0:53
  Mark Servadidio in town with his wife and friends for the game
• 0:56
  Sunday, it's the little things, like a Cabrini University jersey on the
• 1:00
  ceiling, that make the difference. You have all these little nuances. You
• 1:05
  can tell this is really a true hardcore Philadelphia fandom pub, he
• 1:09
  said. When you get here, you really have to take a walk
• 1:11
  around and look. All these things have such meaning. How filly is
• 1:15
  this, John? Very Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, and Seventy Sixers Paraphernalia, all
• 1:21
  donated by visitors over the years, cover the walls. And ceilings. Cheesesteaks
• 1:25
  are on the menu. Episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia run
• 1:29
  on a TV above the front bar. US dollar bills with written
• 1:32
  messages, Think Brady again, and the Dallas Cowboys are pinned to the
• 1:36
  walls. There's an unopened DVD set of Rocky movies. The Hole in
• 1:40
  the Wall spot in Swanky Fitzrovia, filmmaker Guy Ritchie owns a restaurant
• 1:45
  nearby, opened in twenty eighteen, and they've added several other London locations.
• 1:50
  Each one features a Foles bar. Each location's Wi Fi password includes
• 1:54
  Foles? If anyone needs reminding, Foles was the backup quarterback who led
• 1:58
  the Eagles to a 4133 victory over Brady and the Patriots in
• 2:02
  the Super Bowl concluding the 2017 season. Foles MVP performance included a
• 2:07
  touchdown reception on a play named Philly Special. Had enough foals? Philly
• 2:13
  hasn't at the Fitzrovia location there's an inspirational foals quote on the
• 2:17
  staircase descending to the Foles Bar. On the staircase, don't miss the
• 2:21
  People magazine cover of Princess Diana wearing a green and white Eagles
• 2:25
  varsity bomber jacket. It's all the brainchild of J. P. Teddy, Pasyunk's
• 2:30
  founder and managing director. He grew up in New Jersey with connections
• 2:34
  to Philadelphia, his Italian great grandparents settled in South Philly. While, working
• 2:39
  a corporate job in London, he'd had discovered you can't get hoagies,
• 2:42
  you can't get cheesesteaks, chicken parms. He got some seed money and
• 2:47
  opened in Fitzrovia. I imagine this business to be this culturally immersive
• 2:52
  outpost, that when you walk through the front door you are some
• 2:55
  place else for a little while, said Tetty, adding he hopes it's
• 2:59
  a place people can connect with emotionally, whether they're from Philadelphia or
• 3:04
  not. Kelsey brothers pay a visit. Travis and Jason Kelsey recorded an
• 3:09
  episode of their podcast at the Fitzrovia location in twenty twenty four
• 3:13
  during Taylor Swift's heiress tour. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelsey and Swift
• 3:17
  got married this past summer. The
• 3:20
  brothers had arrived for the session early in the morning, explained Jesse
• 3:23
  Riley, manager and cultural ambassador at Passyunk. A brief awkward moment turned
• 3:28
  comical. Riley had been planning a Taylor Swift after party for concert
• 3:33
  regulars, and had a cardboard cutout of the singer when Travis showed
• 3:37
  up. I'm like sorry about the girlfriend. I'm having a Taylor Swift
• 3:41
  after party, Riley said. And he said, as am I. The brothers
• 3:44
  later tried The
• 3:45
  cheesesteaks. Travis had two before eleven AM, so I think that's a
• 3:50
  pretty good sign, she said. Jason Kelsey spent his entire thirteen year
• 3:54
  NFL career with the Eagles. His wife, Kylie, took a one hundred
• 3:58
  dollar bill from Jason. He didn't have anything smaller, Riley said, wrote
• 4:01
  a message on it and posted it on the wall during the
• 4:03
  visit. She wrote Go go Birds, and go Cabrini, among with a
• 4:07
  Dallas related dispatch. The Pasyunk bars are hosting Eagles events all weekend,
• 4:12
  and Teti said there will be A victory parade on Monday with
• 4:16
  a brass band. The Fitzrovia location was the only one open in
• 4:20
  twenty eighteen, and was packed when the Eagles beat the Jags twenty
• 4:23
  four eighteen at Wembley Stadium. We
• 4:26
  don’t care Over at the much larger Waterloo location, local Eagles fan
• 4:31
  Gareth Smith said that there's a natural affinity for the team among
• 4:35
  Britons. It's one of the biggest supported teams over here, said Smith,
• 4:40
  one of the hosts of the franchise tag podcast. A lot of
• 4:43
  British people can associate with Philadelphia. It's a working class city. It's
• 4:47
  also not the most popular. Being English, we're not the most popular
• 4:51
  worldwide. There's a lot of similarities. There's also the attitude of the
• 4:55
  fan base, he said. The sheer case of we don't care what
• 4:59
  anyone else thinks. That resonates quite nicely with the UK, see the
• 5:03
  AP's full NFL coverage here.