Watering Hole to close Saturday

Saturday night’s “Drink or Drown” at The Watering Hole Bar & Grill in downtown Milledgeville will be the last. After only eight months, the popular hangout will close– but not for good.

Owner Dickey Smith said he decided to close the bar on Nov. 5 because being a business owner required more than he initially thought.

“I retired about three years ago, and I got bored, so I decided to open The Watering Hole,” Smith said. “But I recently realized I’m just a little bit too old. Owning a bar is something you have to stay with. You have to be there pretty much all the time, and it was getting hard for me.”

Smith said another factor contributing to the closing of the Watering Hole was the city raising the cost of a liquor license and liability insurance.

Philip Joiner, promotions director of Z97, said he represents many bars and restaurants in downtown Milledgeville.

He blames the city for its lack of financial and marketing support for downtown businesses.

“The fact that the city is attempting to–but have backed off since–raise the price of selling liquor is putting a clamp on downtown businesses when they should be rewarding them opportunities to grow and flourish,” Joiner said.

Manager Brittany Stewart stresses that the closing of the restaurant has nothing to do with finances.

“It’s really not a financial thing. We do plenty of business and make plenty of money,” Stewart said. “(The closing) is really just a personal preference.”

Stewart and Smith said many inquiries have already been made on buying The Watering Hole, but they are unsure of what will replace it. Both foresee that a similar bar and grill will take its place.

“People have been making offers and are wanting to reopen under new management,” Stewart said. “I don’t think the name would be changed since it’s already established.”

Stewart said she expects The Watering Hole to re-open within a few weeks, while Smith predicts it will re-open by the beginning of next year.

Stewart said a majority of The Watering Hole employees are GC&SU students, who were warned in advance of the closure.

“I’ve been personally trying to find everyone a place to go, but it’s hard in a college town,” Stewart said. “But we let them know about a month ago that we were thinking about closing, and we told them they should start looking for another job.”

The Bearfoot Hookers will perform on Friday night, followed by The Crucials, The Watering Hole’s Sweetwater Festival band, playing on Saturday night with a “Drink or Drown” celebration.

“We’re doing a huge ‘Drink or Drown’ night, and we’re trying to get rid of everything,” Stewart said, “so we’re going to let everybody drink until there’s no more alcohol.”

Stewart said The Watering Hole staff was one of a kind, and she will tremendously miss working there.

“We’ve all really gotten to know each other. It’s like a family thing. You come in, and you know who you’re working with every day,” Stewart said. “I’m going to miss seeing these people everyday.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 4 2005. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry