Noonan's Tavern set to open next week at Heather Ridge

Last year the B.U.F.F. Brothers Group sold four of their bars -- the College Inn, Dirk's, Gibby's and Pifler's -- to the Little Pub Company. B.U.F.F. Brothers co-owner Rob Lanphier says the sale basically came down to money: The Little Pub Company, which now owns nineteen saloons in the area, made an offer they couldn't refuse.

The B.U.F.F. Brothers kept their FuNuGyz bars in Parker and Arizona, and last year opened the University of Colorado-themed Ralphie's. And now they're slated to open Noonan's Tavern at the Golf Club at Heather Ridge (that's at 13521 East Iliff Avenue in Aurora) on Monday. Anyone who's seen the 1980 film Caddyshack might recognize the reference to the film's caddy, Danny Noonan. But while the house drink will be the Danny Noonan, the place won't necessarily have a Caddyshack theme.

"Basically, it's going to be a neighborhood tavern," Lanphier says. "It's just a place for people in the neighborhood to come out and have some good food and cold beer. With each one of our bars we kind of figure out, hopefully, what the neighborhood wants."

Lanphier should have a fairly good idea of what that is, since he's lived in the Heather Ridge area for a while. "The one thing people ask is why we're back out here in Aurora," he says. "I grew up out here, actually. I used to live five minutes from the golf course. I live two minutes from it now. I've been in this area for about 25 years. I just wanted to have something where I'm not driving 35 minutes to one of my locations."