In Business: Medieval-Themed Axe-Throwing Bar Brings Together Coleraine Community

An old stone church in Coleraine had seen better days when a Minnesota couple decided to renovate and transform it into a medieval-themed axe-throwing bar and bistro. Now with new life behind it, the one-of-a-kind “castle” has meant a lot for the community.

When visiting a castle in Hungary, Sue Palavics and her husband Jozsef agreed that if they owned a stone castle, they would call it Ravenstone. So, when they found an abandoned stone church in Coleraine…

“We walked through here and I could see it,” said Sue, who now owns the building with Jozsef. “I had a sketchpad with me and I drew it out, and I found this sketchpad six months into the renovation and I was shocked that it’s all coming together exactly like I’d drawn it.”

Thus, Ravenstone Abbey was born.

“You never know that, ‘Maybe this is my last day,'” said Jozsef. “I don’t want to do some stupid things on this, you know, just do something real. I don’t want to work for money, just do real quality stuff.”

The abandoned 1908 building had been an unused church for over 50 years until it got the medieval makeover. Between the coffee shop and the bar, the Abbey provides drinks that you can’t just find at your local store.

“I realize that you have one life and you want to do good things in your life,” said Jozsef. “Do you want it to serve something? You can’t [say], ‘Oh, I can go there’ [to the store for that food or drink]. So that’s why, just being unique.”

“We import our wines, we import our whiskeys; we do especially cocktails,” explained Sue. “Our coffee is, we have our own roasters in Italy, so we import that. We’re the only ones that have that coffee.”

And the drinks aren’t even the most unique aspect of the abbey. The dungeon holds the main attraction, the axe throwing, which has brought in over 9,000 people in less than a year.

“When I was a kid, I always throw knives, axes,” said Jozsef. “So I just liked the idea that it’s something good, normal, and you have to have this type of experience, I think. Something raw, ancient.”

Sue says providing a unique night of fun isn’t even Ravenstone Abbey’s main purpose.

“One of the greatest joys of having it is hearing the people that come in and are so happy that we’ve done this, or the stories of when they were married here or they used to go to church here, or, yeah, it’s been, it’s just been awesome to give it back to the community,” she said.

Ravenstone Abbey also hosts special events where all of the staff will be in full period attire and playing characters of the medieval time period. Their next big celebration will be their one-year anniversary in June.