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McGillin's Olde Ale House and Reading Terminal Market, the community anchors of Center City Philadelphia
EPISODE RECAP · EPISODE 2

McGillin's & Reading Terminal:
Center City's Community Anchors

Craig Lerch
Craig Lerch Published September 9, 2026 · Host, Selling 215

Episode 2 of Selling 215 takes you to two places that hold Center City together: McGillin's Olde Ale House, pouring hospitality since 1860 as the oldest continuously operating tavern in Philadelphia, and Reading Terminal Market, a National Historic Landmark train shed packed with more than 80 independent merchants. In Philly, the block you live on matters as much as the building you live in, and these two anchors prove it.

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A Pint, a Market, and One Unscripted City

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WHY THESE STOPS MATTER

What Makes Center City Worth Living In

This episode is about community, not just real estate. Craig walks the oldest bar in the city and the market that feeds it, and he shows exactly why the character on these blocks decides whether a neighborhood feels like home.

The antique bar and warm interior of McGillin's Olde Ale House in Center City Philadelphia

McGillin's Olde Ale House

1310 Drury St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

When you live in Center City, the landmarks that keep you here are rarely the new ones. They are the places that have been holding the block together for generations. McGillin's is that place. Tucked on Drury Street, a narrow alleyway just off the main stretch, it has been pouring hospitality since 1860, the oldest continuously operating tavern in Philadelphia.

Walk in and it feels like the city's whole history is on the walls, in the wood, and across the bar. For 160-plus years this has been where neighbors meet, where the community closes out a day, and where the real, unscripted Center City shows up. That is what a neighborhood worth living in feels like: a room you can walk into, sit down in, and belong to.

Visit McGillin's Olde Ale House
The neon-lit, sensory-rich aisles of Reading Terminal Market under its historic train shed

Reading Terminal Market

51 N 12th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

A few blocks north sits the other anchor. Reading Terminal Market has been running under a National Historic Landmark train shed since 1893, one of the oldest and most sensory-rich public markets in America. Step under that shed and you are in a corridor of more than 80 independent small merchants, all cooking, baking, curing, and selling on the same stretch of Center City.

This is the argument for city living in a single building: the farmers, butchers, bakers, and cooks who make the neighborhood real are all within walking distance of your front door. It is also where Craig picks up what he calls the true culinary crown of Center City sandwich craft.

Visit Reading Terminal Market
A hot roast pork sandwich piled high at Tommy DiNic's inside Reading Terminal Market

Tommy DiNic's Roast Pork

1136 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Reading Terminal's most famous stop is DiNic's, a multi-generational institution known for its award-winning hot roast pork. The sandwich is a Center City rite of passage: juicy roast pork on a seeded roll, topped with hand-sautéed broccoli rabe and melted sharp provolone.

This is Philly specificity you cannot fake. It is the kind of corner where the recipe, the line, and the family behind the counter have all earned their place. When you are house-hunting in Center City, this is the flavor of the block you are considering.

Visit Tommy DiNic's Roast Pork
Fresh glazed Pennsylvania Dutch yeast doughnuts hand-rolled at Beiler's in Reading Terminal

Beiler's Doughnuts

51 N 12th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Right inside the market, Beiler's draws a daily citywide line with Pennsylvania Dutch-style yeast doughnuts made from scratch. It is a theatrical counter: watch them hand-roll, proof, and glaze the dough while you wait, and you understand why people pick the neighborhood around the market to call home.

A neighborhood worth living in is one where a Saturday morning errand turns into an event. Beiler's is that event, every single day.

Visit Beiler's Doughnuts
Rich, fifth-generation ice cream scooped at the marble Bassetts counter in Reading Terminal

Bassetts Ice Cream

45 N 12th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Finish the tour at Bassetts, the oldest operating ice cream brand in the United States and a fifth-generation family operation. Its recipe is famously rich, a 16.5% butterfat treat served from the marble market counter. The family has been doing it since 1892, and the lineage is the point.

Centers of community are built on that kind of continuity. When a family keeps one craft going for five generations in the same market, it tells you the people here stay, and they care about what they leave behind.

Visit Bassetts Ice Cream
CRAIG'S TAKE

Why Community Anchors Should Move You

When you are deciding where to live in Center City, do not get so caught up in the floor plan that you forget the block. A building gets you a roof. The neighborhood around it gets you a life.

A bar that has poured drinks since 1860 and a market that has fed the city since 1893 tell you something about the people who live beside them. They stay. They show up. They pass the craft down through the generations. That continuity is exactly what makes a place worth putting down roots in.

As Craig says on the show: "Philly is rare. We have grit, passion, love and history." McGillin's and Reading Terminal are where all four live on the same few blocks.

When you are ready to find your place in Center City, tour with the block in mind. Stop for the roast pork, grab a doughnut, sit at the bar, and ask yourself if this is where you want your story to live. If it feels right, that is your answer.

Ready to Find Your Block in Philly?

Let's talk about your story. Craig Lerch can help you buy or sell across Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Bucks Counties.

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