Morgan Wallen was slated to open his downtown Nashville bar during Memorial Day weekend, but those plans have been postponed.
Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen, located at 107 4th Ave. N., won’t open this weekend as planned, according to representatives for TC Restaurant Group, the organization that teamed with Wallen to open the establishment, and which is also behind other Nashville celebrity bars from Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean. No new opening date has been given.
A statement from Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen issued to Billboard read, “We’re proud of our team who has worked tirelessly to prepare Morgan Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen for opening. The ground-up construction of a six-story venue launching with hundreds of team members is a tremendous amount of work and a complex process.”
The statement continues, “When we open, we want This Bar to be an exceptional experience for guests. Unfortunately, the process requires more time, and we are not able to open and provide that experience this Memorial Day weekend. Rest assured it will be well worth the wait. We look forward to welcoming guests soon.”
A source tells Billboard that the restaurant/bar is awaiting final inspections, but declined to address whether TC Restaurant Group had been denied a catering license (which allows an establishment to sell liquor, wine and beer), as had been reported by online site, Scoop Nashville, or had even applied yet. The source did confirm that the postponement of the grand opening is not related to the Nashville Metro Council’s decision earlier this week to deny approval for an external sign for the bar.
On Tuesday (May 21), the council rejected plans for Wallen’s 20-foot external sign–labeled an “aerial encroachment” that would have encroached on the sidewalk, which is city property– for the six-story building. Thirty members of the council voted against the sign, with only three members voting in favor of it and four abstaining. Some members of the council cited Wallen’s past controversial incidents, including his use of a racial slur in January 2021 and his arrest on felony charges last month for throwing a chair off the six-story roof off of Eric Church’s Chief’s bar, as reasons for rejecting the sign.
Wallen announced the bar’s opening on May 4 at one of his three sold-out Nissan Stadium shows in Nashville, though never specified the exact date. “It’s over off 4th Ave. just beside the Ryman [Auditorium], and it’s going to be opening Memorial Day weekend, so I hope I see y’all there,” Wallen said from the stage. The bar’s official instagram picked up the video of Wallen making the announcement, but has since taken it down, and now has only a post with a video of downtown Nashville with the name of Wallen’s bar and the words “Coming Summer 2024.”
Wallen’s representative referred inquiries to TC Restaurant Group.
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