Philadelphia Eagles fans flock to the bar that brings the City of Brotherly Love to London

By Thomas Schlachter, CNN

London (CNN) — Close your eyes, tap your heels together three times and think to yourself there’s no place like home.

These were the instructions given to Dorothy as she left the Land of Oz before waking up at home in Kansas. It all seems rather straightforward, but it could have been very different if she happened to be from the City of Brotherly Love.

For an NFL fan from Philadelphia wearing the ruby slippers, if they weren’t careful, they may have unexpectedly ended up right in the middle of London, and even then, it might have taken them a bit longer than you’d think to work that out.

Over the past week, the English capital has played host to tens of thousands of Philadelphians and, in Passyunk Avenue, they certainly have a home away from home.

‘We need a place that sells cheesesteaks’

When JP Teti moved to London from South Philadelphia, he noticed there were a couple of things his new home was missing.

His idea was to kill these two birds with one stone.

“I loved living in London. I noted how diverse it was, how you get people from all over the world, and how you could get food from everywhere. But I noticed you couldn’t get, like, this unique regional Philadelphia cuisine,” Teti explained to CNN Sports.

The thought that he may never be able to get a hoagie, a cheesesteak or good buffalo wings started weighing heavily on his mind.

And it wasn’t just the food that was missing an American touch.

After spending much of his late 20s and early 30s in traditional English pubs, Teti also noticed the lack of a real dive bar in the city – a staple in the US.

“Philly has great examples of dive bars, and I noted that while the pub is great, the dive bar is great too – in a different way – and that whole idea doesn’t really exist here. And I thought it might be cool if that idea existed.”

It could have been easy for Teti to simply dream about this elaborate scheme, but as his career at his “overpaid, underworked corporate job” began to progress, he realized he may never have a better time to bring this idea to life.

“For many months now, I’m shooting off my mouth: ‘We need a place that sells cheesesteaks, we need a dive bar, we need a place we can watch football and eat buffalo wings,’” Teti said.

“I was thinking, if I don’t act on this, people are going to think I’m all talk and no action.”

The next step was selling the idea to his wife, who was also seven months pregnant with their first child.

“She looked at me very seriously, but she’s from the Philly area, so she gets it. She gets exactly what I was talking about. She was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”

The following Monday, Teti quit his job and started working on the project that would become Passyunk Avenue.

‘An outpost of hope’

After years of perfecting recipes, working on markets and selling Philadelphian cuisine out of a food truck, Teti reached another crucial juncture on his journey.

“I’m either going to stop doing this, or I’m going to bring to fruition what I imagined I wanted this business and brand to be from the very beginning,” Teti outlined to CNN Sports. “These culturally immersive, experiential American-style dive bars that served really authentic American regional cuisine, but more importantly, provided a really interesting cultural exchange for people who were interested in Americana.”

The first Passyunk Avenue opened in Fitzrovia in 2018, a year that Philadelphians are particularly fond of.

“The Eagles came in October of that year. They brought the Lombardi Trophy – because they just won the Super Bowl – to the original Passyunk, and the rest is history.

“It’s like the legend started from there, and we’ve grown to five sites in London now.”

Passyunk Avenue fills the market for what Teti calls “Americana-curious Europeans.”

“Despite how difficult we make it for people to like us, there’s still a big attraction among large segments of the population of Europe to be attracted to Americana,” he said. “Whether it’s the aspirational nature of it, the enthusiastic nature of it, or the positive nature of the culture.”

While the cost of living continues to surge, political tensions rise and times are challenging in both the United Kingdom and the US, Teti hopes that his bars can provide people with an escape.

“Passyunk is keeping the light on,” he said. “For all those people who for their own personal reasons have been attracted to the lifestyle and the culture, we’re trying to keep that real. We’re trying to keep that available, and we’re trying to be a bit of an outpost of hope for people.”

‘It feels like we’re in Philly’

Alongside the food and the atmosphere, sport is also a key piece of the Passyunk puzzle.

“Since sports is such an important part of the Philadelphia culture, right? It is such a great vehicle to tell the story of the culture,” Teti said.

“You can’t talk about the culture of Philadelphia and what it is to be a Philadelphian and experience life in Philadelphia without talking about the narrative of sports.”

This past week and a half proved that folks from Philly do really show up for sport.

London had become home to Philadelphia Eagles fans from all around the world and they flocked to Passyunk Avenue.

The bars put on various events throughout the week, including turning the Leake Street Arches in Waterloo into its own version of Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market and hosting a tailgate party outside Passyunk Avenue before the Eagles took on the Jacksonville Jaguars on October 11.

“It’s awesome, it feels like we’re in Philly,” one fan told CNN Sports at the tailgate. “This entire week, I’ve been saying ‘Go Birds!’ on the street.”

Tailgates aren’t something that London is used to putting on, but you wouldn’t have known that if you happened to stumble across Cleveland Street that day.

The smell of freshly made cheesesteaks wafted through the waves of retro jerseys, pints flowed freely and constant chants of “E-A-G-L-E-S!” filled the air as resident DJ Adam Lovelock got the crowd hyped for the big game.

Multiple fans mentioned it was just like being at home. But just like in sport, good things take time.

Teti still remembers a day where he thought the dream could be over before it even started.

“I was down in my railway arch after a particularly sh***y day of street trading, all alone, and thinking maybe no one’s ever going to know that this existed and this might just peter out, and that’ll be that.”

Fast forward to February 2025 and Passyunk Avenue hosted a Super Bowl tailgate as thousands saw the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

“To think back about how lonely I was and how much doubt I had in my head about whether anyone would ever care that I was doing this, and then to think forward to the experience of looking over a crowd that you can’t even see the end of, and be like, ‘Wow, Passyunk put these people here, and Passyunk has brought these people together and made these people care about this.’ That’s when you know it’s all been worth it.”

So, as it turns out, maybe Glinda the Good Witch was wrong. Maybe, there are places just like home after all.

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