Buckley's Tavern and Restaurant, Yardville, New Jersey

Buckley's Tavern and Restaurant ~ Route 130, Yardville, New Jersey






This ashtray is just a little Memorabilia
I have from Buckley's
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Buckley’s Tavern, a Yardville institution for many years. I really wish I could find more about the history, I have been told it was the Buckley Family Homestead and became The Buckley family’s tavern and restaurant.

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Buckley’s was the place to go, back when it was a rural and out of the way Tavern and Restaurant, back when Route 130 (AKA Route 25) was a two lane highway, back when the only thing between Yardville and Robbinsville was Buckley’s Tavern, Edgebrook School, Sadley’s Apple Farm (now Hamilton Market Place), and another small farm north of where I-195 crosses.

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The food was home cooking at its best. Almost everyone that worked there was a Buckley or Buckley family, everyone knew everyone by name, the waiters & bartenders wore black pants, white shirts, sometimes an apron, the waitresses wore black skirts and white blouses, it was the time before casual dining, no one wore shorts or jeans, it was a place where you went for Sunday Dinner, the men wore jackets and ties, the women wore dresses, it was a place where you felt comfortable, people would have a drink, an appetizer, their meal, then coffee and desert, people would chat with friends at other tables and share a drink at the bar before leaving. Buckley's was not a place where you rushed through your meal, because you had to be somewhere in a hurry, it was a place where you sat and took your time and enjoyed a meal and conversation.

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During the week they had the "After Work" crowd. Saturday nights there was music, Marlene Donnell mentioned that her Mom and Dad Spent many a Saturday night listening and dancing to the Chubby Britton Band, Chubby's wife was also a Buckley.

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When you sat in one of the dining rooms you were actually sitting in what was the living room or the dining room of the Buckley Homestead, it does not get much homier than that. Except for the large bar on the back of the building it could have been someone’s house, it was, it was the Buckley’s house.

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I believe it was in the 1980’s the Tavern left the Buckley family and became “Casey Jones Restaurant”, along with that name came seventy five feet of Railroad Track, a Railroad Box Car and a Caboose, just to boost the new theme of the restaurant. You could dine in the Rail cars or in the dining rooms. At that time the kitchen was expanded.

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That name lasted a few years then it became “Spikes”, I guess what you would call a “Fun Eatery”, part of the Railroad Box Car became a game room for kids, with prizes. The menu was geared toward kids with lots of fun and finger foods, to attract a more family group, with children.

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Around 2000 it became Savoy’s, geared to a twenty to Thirty year old crowd, with live bands, and outdoor deck was added and they featured “Lawn parties”, this kind of went with the ban on indoor smoking.

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Savoy’s closed about two years ago and the building has sat vacant ever since, rumor has it the building has been slated to be torn down, a sad loss for the area.

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The building and its charm was lost when it left the Buckley Family, it was the end of an era, when men and women dressed up to go out for Sunday Dinner, it was an era where people spoke to the people at the other table, not hidden in their own little booth. It was when food was prepared in the kitchen, not thawed and reheated from some kitchen in Tennessee or Texas.
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That is when the Tavern closed back in the 1980’s, when it was no longer Buckley’s.