Break-ins, crime, worker pay among reasons Loyal Hound Pub closed
Aug. 16—Loyal Hound Pub shut down Friday after repeatedly getting hounded by break-ins and harassment of customers, its owner said.
The pub on St. Michael's Drive has suffered eight break-ins since November, Patrick Mockler-Wood said Wednesday.
"Thursday, we had a young guy run through the restaurant snatching purses," Mockler-Wood said. "On Friday, a vagrant was trying to steal food from customers' plates. We have to remove vagrants from doing drugs right at the front door."
Mockler-Wood acquired Loyal Hound from Renée Fox and Dave Readyhough in 2019 after they launched it in 2014 and built a legion of fans. Fox and Readyhough had already opened Arable in Eldorado in 2017, but they ended up selling it and moving away in June 2022.
Mockler-Wood has owned Pajarito Brewpub & Grill in Los Alamos since 2012 and said he will continue to own and operate that establishment.
"As of Friday, we have closed our doors at Loyal Hound," Mockler-Wood said. "It's quite a few things."
He said building maintenance issues added to the decision to close. Increasing minimum wages and higher pay driven by the tight labor market in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic have eaten away at revenue.
"When we bought Loyal Hound in 2019, our executive chef was making as much as our dishwasher was when we closed Friday," Mockler-Wood said.
He's keeping the Loyal Hound business name but is willing to sell it and is willing to have the buyer move to another Santa Fe location.
"The cost of relocating is way too high for me," Mockler-Wood said. "It just added up to [where] we can't do it anymore. I gave it the old college try."
