Manitou Springs residents and longtime patrons of the Royal Tavern were taken aback Sept. 3, when a sign appeared in the window of the beloved neighborhood bar, reading, “Closed for business. Thank you for your support throughout the years.”

The closing seemed abrupt and unexpected, as stunned residents stared at the sign and wondered aloud what happened.

“This was my favorite place,” said a passerby who declined to give their name. “I’ve been coming here for 20 years.”

A Royal Tavern employee, who also did not want to be named, said he wasn’t sure why the bar was closing, or if it was permanent.

Expressions of surprise and sorrow — along with treasured memories of good times at a historic neighborhood bar — flooded social media in the following days.

“Oh noooo! What a landmark!” said Shirley Wade, archive coordinator for the Manitou Heritage Center, in a Facebook post.

“I grew up there,” Karey Raymond lamented.

“Man, I loved that little dive,” posted Ryan Johnson. “I’ll miss it something fierce.”

Details about the bar’s history were hard to come by, but it is rumored to have been built in the 1930s. Wade said the Royal Tavern was open when she moved to Manitou Springs in 1948. The bar’s longtime owner, Donald Moses, was a high school classmate of Wade’s, she said.

The Moses family has been beset by tragedy in recent months. Donald Ray Moses, the tavern owner’s son, died May 7 at age 61, according to an obituary. The elder Donald Moses died three weeks later, on May 29, at age 91.

He is survived by his daughter, Julie, who inherited the Royal Tavern. Attempts to contact her have been unsuccessful.

There has been rampant social media speculation about the reason for the closing, but officials with the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce said they weren’t sure why the tavern shut its doors, or if a sale is imminent.

For now, at least, former patrons will have to find a new favorite watering hole, hopefully one that features affordable beer and a welcoming atmosphere.

“Manitou will miss the Royal and will lose a bit of history if someone doesn’t take it over,” Shirley Wade wrote.