BEMENT — After eight years of bartending from open to close and nearly five years of running her own bar, West End Pub owner Amanda Rincker was ready for a change.
“My life just was not going how I wanted it to, and the drinking world is wild,” she said. “You know, I was just ready for calm and peacefulness and just where we can have a family environment. And the drinking world is kind of dying off; people aren’t drinking like they did 10 years ago, even. So it was just kind of a dying business. And I just thought, ‘I’m not going to keep sinking my money into this when I could do something that’s going to make me happy.’”
Rincker closed the pub in late October. However, rather than simply let the space sit vacant, she asked her best friend, Christy McQueen, prior to closing if she’d be willing to join her in a new venture: reopening the spot at 481 W. Wilson St. as a coffee shop.
The pair opened Friends Corner Coffee House the day after Christmas.
“The community has loved it,” Rincker said. “They are all surprised when they walk in the door, because it looks like a completely new building. We carpeted the floor. We completely changed the bar and the shelves. It just looks like a whole new room. It just feels comfortable, people are saying.”
Rincker credited her friend Randy Lewis for helping with the renovations “out of the goodness of his heart.”
The coffee shop’s current menu includes espresso drinks, lattes, plant-based energy drinks, dirty sodas, cold brew coffee and Italian sodas.
Rincker plans to add food items in early 2026, which is also when she expects to begin offering delivery service to Bement and surrounding towns.
Her goal is to create a “calm, peaceful” atmosphere where people can sit in a “quiet corner” and use the Wi-Fi or chat with friends at the bar. She’s seen customers doing the latter and even sticking around for three or four coffees at a time.
According to the Piatt County Journal-Republican, Rincker purchased the West End Pub in 2021. She said in a 2022 interview that the building dates back to the 1800s and “has always been a tavern or saloon or a bar.”
Some of the establishments that were once located in the space include the Junction Eating House, The Depot Tavern and the West End Tavern. It was also once known as the Gun and Knife Club, Rincker said.
“I wanted something that Bement would be proud of,” she told The News-Gazette. “I ran the bar here for almost five years, and I don’t know half the people that’s been coming into the coffee shop because there’s so many other people in this town, and it’s just great. I get to meet the sober side of living now, the more family-oriented, daytime — I love saying ‘Good morning’ to people, and I love going to bed before 9 p.m.”
Rincker’s workday starts early at Friends Corner; the shop is currently open from 4:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends in the hope of attracting first-shift factory workers.
