New Main Line BYOB Canby’s Not Allowed to Serve Coffee

The Main Line gained a new restaurant in June when Canby’s on Cricket opened in Ardmore. Since Canby’s is a BYOB, they’re not allowed to sell any wine, of course. But try to order a cup of coffee, and they’ll tell you they can’t sell that either.

“It’s written into my lease!” explains Canby’s owner Bart Brownell. It turns out that Brownell’s landlord also owns the neighboring coffee shop (formerly Milkboy, it’s now Melodies), and there was apparently some concern over there being one too many places to buy a cup of coffee in Ardmore.

Brownell is hoping to get the clause removed from the lease, but if he can’t, he has another idea. “I’m going to get around it by selling you an Andes after-dinner mint for $1.50,” says Brownell. “And that will come with a free cup of coffee. One thing’s for sure, though. I can’t actually just give the coffee away. The doggone stuff has become too darn expensive.”