The once popular college hangout Newby’s will open its doors again Tuesday, more than a year after it closed.
The bar is being leased to Larry Thompson, 29, who worked at several bars and restaurants including South Mouth in Boulder, Colorado, which he owned.
Thompson even worked at Newby’s while he was a student at the University of Memphis.
“Restaurants – that’s all I know,” Thompson said.
Thompson plans on changing a few things in Newby’s.
For one, he’s adding draft beer, which according to Thompson, Newby’s has never had in the past.
Thompson is also adding a smaller patio in the back to add more parking spaces and upgrading the restrooms. There will also be HDTVs, which he said will be great for watching Memphis Tiger games.
Thompson is sticking to Newby’s longstanding tradition of live music.
He said he’s not sure who will play opening night, but he has a few of his favorite musicians in mind.
“I would love to have the North Mississippi Allstars,” Thompson said.
They may end up being too popular to be a feasible choice, but Thompson has other backup plans, like Kingfish, a rising young blues musician from Clarksdale, Miss.
Newby’s first opened its doors in 1975, owned by David “Newby” Harsh, who ran the place until he suffered a stroke in 1996. In January 1997, he sold the bar to Todd Adams, who was working there as a bartender at the time.
Newby’s was forced to fore- close in November 2014, and Loeb Properties Inc. purchased the property a month later.
Thompson said patrons can expect to be served as fast as humanly possible because millennials don’t like to wait.
“I bought a pizza oven that pumps out pizzas in less than two minutes,” Thompson said.
One of the most important things to Thompson is the food, which he says will always be cooked using fresh ingredients. He says there will definitely be pizza and wings, both of which he has some experience with.
