The July 24 message on Campbell’s Place’s Facebook page came as a surprise to many Hillers: “After more than 17 years of memories, meals, and moments shared, the time has come for us to close our doors.”

For over 50 years, Campbell’s Place served the community of Chestnut Hill and its surrounding area as a bar under the stewardship of Jim and Mary Campbell, and starting in 2008, a casual-dining pub under Rob and Vanessa Mullen.

Mullen, co-owner of Campbell’s Place with husband Rob, told the Local of their decision to close the community mainstay, “There are many [challenges], often unseen and just handled, but it all makes you really concentrate on the positive fun stories, the memories you can’t take away.”

The Mullens met while both were chefs at Cuba Libre, a Cuban restaurant in Old City Philadelphia, and moved to East Falls in the early 2000s. Rob, also catered for multiple bands on tour, including Phish and U2, and solo artists Beyoncé and Jay-Z.

Vanessa did double duty as a real estate agent, and when Campbell’s came onto the market, the couple saw it as an opportunity to invest in Chestnut Hill.

Campbell’s menu served American dishes such as chicken pot pie and chilled cucumber soup. The bar offered cocktails ranging from a spiced apple martini to a “hot buttered jawn,” depending on the season.

Throughout their years on the Hill, they experienced highs — buying a piece of the Paris Bistro and Jazz Cafe in 2018, winning the Chestnut Hill Community Association (CHCA) Meritorious Award for Outstanding Community Outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic, and co-sponsoring the opening of Mimi’s Cafe with highly regarded chef and Chestnut Hill native, Carl Drake.

“[We’ve] watched children grow up and go off to college. [There’s] just all these very happy memories. That’s why we did what we did to serve the community and have a place for community to come and feel welcome,” Mullen said.

They also experienced lows — dealing with the effects of the 2008 recession, the seizure and shutdown of Paris Bistro due to tenant-landlord legal battles just two years after its occupancy, the economic aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and multiple Department of Public Health Office of Food Protection inspection violations (the most recent inspection was May 14, 2025).

“Losing all that … starts to wear on you,” Mullen said.

The plan was to reopen the restaurant by the end of July, but the break made her realize “how much of [her] precious time and life was really being sucked out.” With so many changes happening on the Avenue they figured it was time to say goodbye.

This decision “was a very quick one [but] very bittersweet,” Mullen said. She and Rob came to a decision on Monday, the staff was informed on Tuesday, and on Wednesday Campbell’s said its goodbye on social media.

Mullen said she would never forget the bar’s many community-centered moments, such as live music, holidays, family fun weekends, donating meals to various causes (Covenant House, the Bethesda Project, Philadelphia Police 14th District, nightshift staff at Abington Hospital, Chestnut Hill Hospital nurses, ER nightshift staff at Einstein Medical), are among the many things Mullen said she would never forget. But snow days were the most cherished.

“People [would] ski down Germantown Avenue and [families] would come in,” she said. “The parents would have their cocktails and the kids would have their hot cocoa.”

Campbell’s future is still being decided. “It’s been a very long run and a very great run, one that I was very honored to have the opportunity to take part in, but I realized [it’s] time to pass the torch.” She said, “It’s on the market and we’ve had a lot of interest.”