PITTSBORO -- So many people turned out for The City Tap's opening last weekend, the new bar in downtown Pittsboro sold out its cheaper beers and drained a couple of brewery kegs.

"I think most of the crowd came from Chatham, but there were many faces I'd never seen before," said Sarah Carr, 41, one of the three owners.

A block from the courthouse, the intimate bar occupies a high-ceilinged space in the back half of one of Pittsboro's oldest buildings. You enter through its patio on West Salisbury Street, or climb the steps just off West Salisbury to the covered deck.

Customers can sip their beer, wine or soda on the patio, on the deck overlooking the patio, or inside the dimly lit refurbished bar itself. The spacious room has a long L-shaped counter with hand-sculpted bar stools and 15 to 20 small tables and chairs.

Carr, 41, and her husband Steve, 45, longtime Chatham residents with two young sons, first conceived of opening a small downtown bar about four years ago, soon after they bought the 1907 building that formerly housed Edwards Antiques.

They began talking about the idea with their friend, steel sculptor Steve Cote, 44, who also lives in Chatham. They told Cote they hoped he would join them in opening a "one of a kind local hangout and community space."

"At first it was just our fantasy," Sarah Carr said. "But we thought it would be amazing for Steve to design part of the bar's interior and display his metal sculptures there. We also thought Steve would be a great bartender."

But Cote wasn't interested, at first.

"He laughed politely for two years," said Steve Carr. "He told us he didn't want to put his artistic career on hold."

Eventually Cote agreed to became a co-owner, designing the bar's interior and donating large, impressive metal figures that grace the City Tap's interior and exterior spaces. (See related story.) Cote also agreed to serve as the main bartender.

The owners expect to welcome many local customers in the coming months, especially given gas prices. But they also think the bar's unique ambience will attract visitors, and possibly even regulars, from Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Siler City, Cary and Raleigh.

Steve Carr runs another business in Pittsboro, Carr Amplifiers, which manufactures vacuum tube amplifiers for guitars. He installed specially designed amplifiers for the bar's sound system, which he said give a "warmer, softer, feeling tone" to the music played in the bar on the weeknights when small bands aren't booked to play.

The City Tap is open from 4 to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 4 p.m. to midnight Saturday and Sunday. It will offer a mix of 10 everyday and "craft" beers as well as six wines, three white and three red, by the glass. So far, the menu includes sandwiches, chili, grilled panini, homemade soups and sausages.

When the Carrs bought the building from Tommy and Cindy Edwards in 2004, they knew they wanted to renovate it. Sarah has a master's degree in public history from N.C. State University. The building originally housed a general store, and later a penny and nickel store. It served as Pittsboro's first telephone exchange and then became a furniture store before housing Edwards Antiques.

In renovating, and to a large degree restoring the building over the past four years, the Carrs retained all its original hardwood floors, its large windows and high ceilings.

The City Tap occupies only a quarter of the building's approximately 4,800 square feet.

Roy Underhill, the public television woodworker, will be opening a Wood Wright School in the front half of the building facing Hillsborough Street. In the meantime, the Carrs are looking for tenants for the two large second-floor spaces.

"Pittsboro has a great downtown," said Steve Carr. "It's a very vibrant place, and we're happy to be part of its new unfolding."