The Tombs, a renowned bar and restaurant located just blocks away from the front gates, has long been a staple for upperclassmen. Students crowd in for Tuesday trivia nights, conclude semi-creatively themed “Tombs nights” with a forehead stamp, and pack the bar on weekends—even if it means waiting an hour in line just to get inside.
That familiar line, however, was barren on Thursday, Sept. 4, the first night the bar began charging a $5 entry fee. The cover charge, which can be paid by cash, credit, or Apple Pay, is enforced Thursday through Saturday after 10:30 p.m.
Regulars immediately felt the change. One student, Teddy Gerkin (CAS ’26), explained that while typically he can “never” easily enter the bar around midnight, he was able to walk in and sit down immediately on Friday, Sept. 5.
“Something just felt off. The morale was low. The dance floor was empty. The bar actually had seats available for you to sit,” Gerkin said. “Typically, you descend those stairs and it’s like you get transported to a different world. Just for a couple of hours, you get to relax from the academic rigor of Georgetown.”
Backlash was swift. Current students, alumni, and former employees flooded The Tombs’ Instagram comments with reactions like “not my tombs,” “that line looked real short last night…” and “no tombs til no cover 🦅.”
The pushback has also moved beyond just comments. A new Instagram account, @tombs_cover_boycott, is urging those over 21 to act en masse and boycott The Tombs altogether.
The account’s bio tags the bar and links to a change.org petition demanding the charge be dropped. In an Instagram DM to the Voice, the anonymous account stated that the cover is a disappointing choice that overlooks the strong relationship the bar has with the Georgetown community.
“For many of us, celebrating turning 21 at Tombs is a milestone, and it’s become a home base for our social lives. Adding a $5 cover creates an unnecessary financial barrier that makes it harder for students to participate in a tradition we’ve all anticipated during our time at Georgetown,” the account’s creator wrote. “Only by having a direct financial impact do we believe that the Tombs will listen to the grievances of their most loyal patrons.”
At the time of publication, the petition has collected over 700 signatures, with signees leaving comments expressing their disappointment.
But complaints aren’t just about tradition, accessibility, or loyalty. Many students are skeptical that the policy makes sense financially.
“Even having somewhat of an idea [of the charge,] I was still very flabbergasted, quite frankly, to show up and have the credit card scanner put in front of me,” Will Morris, (CAS ’26) who is taking part in the boycott, said.
“I understand that Tombs is a business, right? It’s a bar, and we’re happy to go in and buy pitchers and buy drinks and things like that to help support, but charging a cover at a student bar […] that’s been there forever,” he said. “I think everyone felt dejected by that.”
The boycott account has gone further, estimating that The Tombs could lose $10,000 a week in revenue.
“To me, that’s a lot of money from drinks that they’re losing. But, you know, if this is good business for them, then who am I to get in the way of that?” Gerkin said.
Erin Claire (MSB ’12), the general manager of the Tombs, spoke to the Voice to explain the bar’s logic behind the cover charge.
“In terms of the finances of the late night, the cost has risen and the revenue really has not. And in order to sustain that sort of entertainment—paying the DJ, paying the security to kind of keep everybody in control… It was not something that was going to be sustainable for us,” Claire said.
Claire went on to explain that during weekends, The Tombs functions more like a nightclub than a bar, incurring the same higher expenses that nightclubs would.
“We made the decision to, like a nightclub would, institute a cover charge when there’s a DJ,” Claire said.
However, the bar’s unique historic ties to the university are still an important consideration in the staff’s decision-making.
“We take the fact that we’re a place that students and part of the Georgetown community want to be very seriously,” Claire said.
Nonetheless, some student workers who know the bar from the inside doubt the cover’s longevity. Joe Moore (CAS ’25), who enjoyed working at The Tombs for over 3 years as a bouncer, bar back, and bartender, isn’t confident the cover will continue.
“They’ve sort of messed with some of their traditions before in an attempt to make a little bit more money, and it doesn’t really last,” Moore said, citing examples like a $10 minimum for the 99 Days Club and a plan to end the competition entirely.
Following student complaints, Georgetown’s student government has gotten involved. GUSA president Ethan Henshaw (CAS ’26) told the Voice that he met with Claire on Tuesday to try to better represent student concerns following GUSA’s sharing of the petition on the official @gusassociation Instagram page, promising to work “to remedy the situation.”
“Students benefit a lot from Tombs, and Tombs benefits a lot from the business of students. We need to find a way that we can collaborate to make sure that everyone’s interests are best represented,” Henshaw said.
Claire echoed this sentiment.
“We want to find a compromise that’s good for both the students financially as a business—we have to afford to operate—but also for the community that we feel very close to,” Claire said.
However, the manager also distinguished two possibilities: entertainment with a cover fee or no cover and no entertainment.
“We’re listening, and if they say the outcome is really like ‘we don’t want the cover and we want it to just be a place that anybody can come in and grab a beer with friends,’ then we can operate as a restaurant and bar and no longer turn into that nightclub on the weekends,” Claire said. She advised that students unwilling to pay a cover simply enter the bar before 10:30 p.m.
To better understand what nightclub-style entertainment actually entails, the Voice spoke to a student who has been DJing at the restaurant and bar for almost two years. The student spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of employment repercussions.
“These are still amateur equipment that DJs are playing on, as opposed to professional CDJs that you’d see set up at nightclubs. The sound system is relatively modest,” he said. “They don’t have the lights or any other theatrics that you would see in a nightclub, so, while I do appreciate that the Tombs goes further than a traditional bar would go in terms of providing entertainment, I wouldn’t necessarily characterize it as that close to a nightclub.”
He also explained that DJs must provide their own equipment and are paid $150 per night, along with any tips that come their way and a $25 free tab, which decreased from $50 (and even disappeared for a few months) since 2022. He thinks ending late-night entertainment would require the bar to completely modify their week-end business model.
“In how Tombs functions right now, the dance floor is critical to their business,” the student said. “I think students are excited when they see Tombs crowded and that wide open space and 2010 throwback hits playing on the sound system.”
In the meantime, students have already begun exploring alternatives, such as the Hilltop Taproom, located in the on-campus HFSC, which hosts its own Trivia Tuesday. Other local options include Madhatter, a common stomping ground for underclassmen, and Mr. Smith’s, which has reopened to 21-plus customers, drawing in those deterred by The Tombs’ new policy.
“People are probably going to go elsewhere while they’re boycotting. Tombs is a pretty cool bar. It’s a good enough spot that I think once they end the silly policy, everything will revert. I don’t think it’s gonna have long-lasting negative impacts,” Moore said.
Still, for many students, the thought of moving on from The Tombs at all feels bittersweet. The bar has long been a cornerstone of Georgetown’s social scene, and its traditions carry weight beyond just a night out.
“Given that it’s our last year of college, our last year to gather everyone at Tombs and have good times, it would just be so crushing to see the culture go out the window because of this cover,” Gerkin said. “One of the most important things about our efforts is that we’re not doing this because we hate Tombs. We’re doing it because we love Tombs.”
