Holly Springs Lost Two of Its Regular Spots This Year. What's Replacing Them Pours Differently

In June 2018, a wine shop asked the Holly Springs Town Council for permission to pour. Triangle Wine Company needed a Special Exception Use to run a 250-square-foot bar area inside its retail store at Holly Lakes at Sunset Lake Commons. The shopping center was still under construction at the southeast corner of Lassiter Road and Sunset Lake Road. Selling bottles was already allowed in that zoning district, but on-site drinking counted as a bar, so the 250-square-foot pour counter had to go through a public hearing.

Eight years later, the same unit at 4204 Lassiter Road reopened. The bottle shop is still there, but the bar is now the center of the room. That shift is happening across the south side of town. Holly Springs lost two longtime places to drink in 2026. The new drinking spots along Sunset Lake Road combine a bar and a bottle shop and stock plenty for people who don't want a pint, and the old beer bar's space is going to pizza.

Two Closings, Five Weeks Apart

Bass Lake Draft House went first. According to the News & Observer, owner Charles Miller said Monday, May 11 was the bar's last day after 23 years at Bass Lake Road. It opened in 2003, in the early years of American craft beer. Miller told the paper that sales had fallen since COVID, costs had risen sharply since 2024, and he couldn't work out a new lease. He also named a change in taste: "people have been going away from beer, they're not drinking it as much."

Triangle Wine Company closed a few weeks later. The News & Observer reported that the company's ABC permits for Cary, Holly Springs and Southern Pines were cancelled June 1. The owners' farewell put it this way: "the times they are a-changing, and with the ever-shifting realities of the current political and economic environment, we came to the difficult decision that we could simply not remain in business any longer." The paper described the brand as having grown into an influential Wake County wine shop known for tastings, pairings and wine events.

The same article lists Triangle Wine as the latest in a run of Triangle alcohol closures, after Wake County's Vicious Fishes, Cotton House and Funguys. In Holly Springs, that run meant a 23-year beer bar and a wine shop with a small bar inside both closed in the same season.

Unit K Comes Back With 16 Taps

The new tenant at 4204 Lassiter Road is B3 Wine Bar & Bottle Shop, a family-run business from the Bennett family, which is where the name comes from. Its North Carolina ABC record shows beer-and-wine permit applications dated September 2, 2026, and its website now says "NOW OPEN in Holly Springs!"

In 2018 the bar in this unit needed a public hearing. B3 puts the bar first and the shelves second. It has 16 taps, and its site lists THC and non-alcoholic options alongside the wine and craft beer. Bottles are still available to take home, and the shop takes special orders by phone or in person. The owners describe what they want it to be in plain terms: "your third place," somewhere between home and work.

B3's weekly schedule is set up for regulars:

• $2 Off Tuesday: $2 off all pours at the bar.
• Wine Down Wednesday: a free wine tasting every week, no ticket required, with a different region, grape or style each time.
• Fresh Wine Friday: back on the calendar, and the beer and wine pour list is updated every Friday.

B3's own site calls it a "new" neighborhood spot, in quotation marks, with "familiar faces with a refreshed vibe." For anyone who used to stop by this storefront for a bottle and a glass, the address and the habit can stay the same.

Libations Follows the Same Plan Near Stephenson Road

Libations Bottle & Bev Co., the second business of this kind, is going in at 3101 McChesney Hill Loop in Peterson Station, near Sunset Lake Road and Stephenson Road at the Holly Springs and Apex line. Its site lists the address as Apex. Its site has been targeting an early November opening.

Suburban Living Holly Springs described the planned setup: 19 rotating craft beer taps, one tap for Prosecco, wine by the glass, and six cooler doors with craft cans, wine, cider, seltzers, non-alcoholic options and THC drinks. Anything in the coolers can be opened on-site or taken home. The owners say they'll help with pairings and build mixed packs.

The room is planned around about 10 bar seats facing a suspended tap tower, with dark walnut tones, metal shelving and a teal backdrop, plus an outdoor patio. The owners write that the space should be easygoing "whether you are just doing a quick pickup, meeting up with friends or family, or trying a couple different beers."

Bass Lake Draft House was built around a long night of wings and beer. B3 and Libations are built so one visit can be a five-minute pickup and the next can be two drinks on the patio, and a customer who has cut back on beer has plenty of other choices. Those other choices answer the change Miller described in May.

Where Each Spot Went

Two of the three new tenants have moved to the Sunset Lake Road side of town, and both are hybrid bar-and-bottle shops. The third address, the old beer bar, is going in another direction.

The Bass Lake Space Becomes Pizza Night

Lil' Ricci's NY Pizza and Pasta is taking the former Bass Lake Draft House space at 124 Bass Lake Road, Unit C. Its Holly Springs page lists the opening as November 2026. The menu will have hand-tossed New York-style pizza, pasta, hot hero sandwiches and salads.

The restaurant pitches itself for family meals: a quick slice at lunch, pizza night at home, and "catering for the whole little league team." Delivery is planned, and the full menu, kids menu, specials and catering menu are listed as coming soon.

Bass Lake's farewell note talked about kids who grew up and brought in families of their own. The building will keep serving families. Drinks just won't be the reason people walk in.

Downtown Taprooms Still Fill the Beer Nights

For residents who want an evening built around beer, the two downtown-area breweries are still pouring. Local Time Brewing's taproom is at 300 S. Main St., Suite 204. Its location page lists hours as 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 2 to 11 p.m. Friday, noon to 11 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. Carolina Brewing Company's brewery and taproom is at 140 Thomas Mill Road.

The town now has breweries near Main Street and bar-and-bottle shops along Sunset Lake Road. For residents near Sunset Lake Commons, B3's Wednesday tasting and the planned Libations patio are closer than a drive downtown. Both are set up so a pint isn't the only thing to order.

Every business that opens, closes or changes hands shifts how a street feels to live on, and those details can matter to a home's value. If you own near Sunset Lake Road or Bass Lake and want to know how this year's changes affect your home's position, Bespoke Realty Group can walk you through it with local, street-level context. Request a Bespoke Home Valuation and we'll start with your corner of Holly Springs.