SPECIAL DELIVERY
After COVID derailed their March opening date, Postmaster's Pub is finally ready to deliver Written by Bridget Williams / Photography by Andrew Kung and Rachel Lutz Isabel Ladd recalls a pre-COVID meeting this past February with Brian Behr, who planned to open a new concept within 30 days in the building formerly home to The Village Idiot. "My dad loves a project, but he thought we needed a female touch to soften up the lounge," explained Behr. Shifting into overdrive, Ladd looked to vintage British racing cars—à la a 1958 Aston Martin DBR1 raced by legends Carroll Shelby and Sir Stirling Moss—for interior inspiration. And while the casual observer might not make the connection, it all makes sense once you survey Ladd's use of British racing green, supple leather and brass. “I took a racecar and made it into a restaurant,” 66 slmag.net
exclaimed Ladd with her characteristic verve. The building itself is Lexington's oldest surviving post office. It retains a few interesting period details, including a tin ceiling on the first floor. Working with the existing shiplap already installed on the first floor walls before she came on board, Ladd had the bottom threefourths painted racing green. A long communal table was swapped out in favor of a trio of booths with marble tops from Counter Culture. Wood from a bowling alley Behr's family once owned was used to fashion the bar top. A black-and-white graphic tile selected for the stair risers draws attention to the second floor, where a private dining room and a chic lounge space awaits.
