One of downtown Raleigh’s signature restaurants will close next month after more than a decade in business.
Beasley’s Chicken + Honey, the fried chicken-centric Southern food concept by Ashley Christensen will close on Sunday, Jan. 25. Christensen’s restaurant group announced the closing in an email Tuesday, Dec. 30 morning and on social media.
“It is with great sadness that we share that Beasley’s will be closing after more than 14 years,” the post reads.
Following the success of Poole’s Diner, Christensen opened Beasley’s Chicken + Honey in 2011, alongside her burger joint Chuck’s on Wilmington Street.
Beasley’s offered a menu of celebrated Southern classics, built around its pressure-fried, buttermilk-marinated fried chicken, adorned with a drizzle of honey. Favorites included biscuits and pickled tomatoes, waffles, searingly spicy sandwiches, plus pimento cheese and meatloaf.
Since the pandemic, Christensen has been winding down operations at this corner of Wilmington Street. Chuck’s never reopened after restaurants were initially shut down in 2020. The basement cocktail spot Fox Liquor Bar closed permanently in 2024.
In 2011, when chef Ashley Christensen could have done just about anything as a follow-up to Poole’s Diner, she launched Beasley’s Chicken + Honey on Wilmington Street in Downtown Raleigh. Beasley’s offers an idealized view of fried chicken, deeply browned and crunchy and drizzled with honey for a salty, sweet bite. Adam Jennings newsobserver.com
Why is Beasley’s Chicken + Honey closing?
In her post, Christensen said Downtown Raleigh’s restaurant landscape has evolved in ways that make Beasley’s unable to continue.
“We’ve always worked hard to make Beasley’s the best version of itself, and I believe we’ve achieved that thanks to the incredible team we have here,” Christensen said. “But Downtown has evolved since the pandemic, and while we have seen encouraging growth, the current Beasley’s model is no longer sustainable in the new landscape.”
With Chuck’s, Beasley’s and Fox Liquor closing, the brightest corner in downtown Raleigh’s restaurant scene will turn over for the first time in more than a decade as Christensen notes she will not open a new concept in the building.
No new concept planned
Raleigh bar veteran Patrick Shanahan of the newly opened Capulet Cocktail Club already has plans to take over Fox Liquor Bar’s space.
Christensen she’s hopeful for the future of the other spaces.
“As an independent operator with three decades in this industry, the last few years have made me re-evaluate the strategy for my company: We’ve been concentrating our focus rather than broadening it,” said Christensen, who recently expanded Poole’s Diner into the former Poole’side Pies space.
“With that in mind, I’m not the person to lead a new concept, or even a reimagined version of Beasley’s, in this important anchoring corner at Wilmington and Martin Streets – but I believe someone in our community is. I’m hopeful and optimistic that a new tenant will continue to build on the foundation that our team has laid and serve the community in a new era for the space.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2025 at 10:47 AM.
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Drew Jackson
The News & Observer
Drew Jackson writes about restaurants and dining for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun, covering the food scene in the Triangle and North Carolina.
