At Mr. Bing's Cocktail Lounge, which was at last inducted into San Francisco Heritage's list of “Legacy Bars & Restaurants” in 2014, cheap drinks and games of liar's dice appear to be coming to an end.

A bartender at the loveable dump who wished to remain anonymous confirmed to SFist that the business has been sold to new owners, whom Hoodline reports own the Inner Richmond pub Ireland's 32. In fact, Mr. Bing's might become an Irish bar, they speculate, along the lines of that one.

"They haven't taken over yet," the bartender adds to SFist, but will "sometime soon, Could be a week or a month. There's no end date set yet." When that happens, the bar will close for renovations, something that's been antithetical to Mr. Bing's existence for its nearly half century of existence. The employee also believes that the rights to the name "Mr. Bing's" were sold, but it remains to be seen whether the place will retain the name after refurbishments are done.

While still plentiful, San Francisco's dive bars are clearly in peril. It's too often we hear and share stories of bars felled by rising rents and other forces. While, as is often the case, it doesn't sound like there's much to be done, in this instance long time patrons are encouraged to head by soon for one last drink and roll of the dice. Where will the bizarre, beautiful, and beleaguered clientele of Mr. Bing's go now?

Update: Anthony Bourdain, who has gone on the record as a fan of Mr. Bing's, highlighting the dive on his show the Layover, spoke to Eater SF about the changes and potential closure. "Just another day in the death spiral," he reportedly said, "Another good and noble thing, in this case, a fine drinking establishment, ground under the slow, inevitable, pitiless forward motion of the Terrible Wheel. It will consume us all in the end."

That's pretty dark, Tony: Now I really need to get over to Mr. Bing's for a drink.

Mr. Bing's - 201 Columbus Avenue (between Jack Kerouac Alley & Pacific Avenue)

Related: The 25 Best Dive Bars In San Francisco
Anthony Bourdain Also Filmed at Mr. Bing's Today