After more than four years, Lincoln’s Sports Grille on South Illinois Avenue has shut down, citing economic conditions.
Note: This story was updated at 1:30 a.m. Oct. 22.
Lincoln’s Sports Grille has shut down, citing economic conditions. The closure was announced in a sign posted on a front door of the four-year-old restaurant and bar on Monday and in a press release on Tuesday.
The popular restaurant and bar on South Illinois Avenue had had a series of five sometimes-contentious show cause hearings before the Oak Ridge Beer Permit Board. In the last show cause hearing on August 28, members revoked Lincoln’s permit.
Lincoln’s regained the permit after a temporary agreement imposing new conditions was worked out with the city and Beer Board and approved by Anderson County Chancellor Nicki Cantrell, pending an appeal of the Beer Board’s revocation.
But in an interview earlier this month, Scott Green, one of Lincoln’s owners, said the inability to sell beer between late August and early October had a substantial impact on the business. The restaurant and its staff had also been hurt by the bad publicity, Green said.
“It’s been a significant hit on us,” he said.
A sign posted at the front entrance of Lincoln’s Sports Grille on Monday afternoon announced the closure and cited economic conditions.
Observers, including a few Beer Board members, had noticed that the parking lot at Lincoln’s wasn’t as full recently as it had once been.
“Lincoln’s has been a proud supporter of Oak Ridge and the athletic teams around the area,” said the sign posted Monday. “Because of economic conditions, Lincoln’s is closing its doors. We would like to thank everyone that has supported us, and we will miss all of you.”
“We always wanted Lincoln’s Sports Grille to be a place that a fan could enjoy great food and beverage while watching their favorite team play,” the restaurant’s owners said in the press release Tuesday. “It was a joy to be an extended part of the families and teams in Oak Ridge.”
Two of Lincoln’s five show cause hearings had been called after alcohol was sold to underage customers in state stings, and others were called after the Oak Ridge Police Department responded to disturbances. The revocation during the last show cause hearing on August 28 went into effect immediately. That revocation followed an earlier two-week suspension of Lincoln’s beer permit in June.
Lincoln’s also faced a one-week beer permit suspension in September 2013 for selling beer to a minor in March, but the suspension was lifted after the business proved that all servers and bartenders had received certification by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Lincoln’s paid a $1,500 fine in May 2013, according to state records.
No action was taken against Lincoln’s during two other show cause hearings, one in March 2013 and the other in December. Concerns in those hearings included reports of a fight or disturbance and two arrests for public intoxication.
In documents filed in Anderson County Chancery Court after the August 28 permit revocation, Lincoln’s said it had been hit with a “more substantial penalty than similar establishments have faced with similar conduct.”
During the August 28 hearing, Lincoln’s consultant Roy McKinnon testified before the permit was revoked that a beer permit suspension coupled with a possible temporary state suspension of the restaurant’s liquor license for its second sale of beer to a minor could effectively shut down the business.
“The economic impact would be great,” McKinnon said. “It would finish Lincoln’s.”
But Beer Board member Theresa Scott said then that the “general public is fed up.”
“Lincoln’s has been called up here five times in 16 months,” twice for underage sales, she said.
“This is getting crazy,” Scott said. “It’s against the law to serve a minor.”
Lincoln’s and its representatives had argued that the restaurant was making changes, becoming more corporate, securing its patio, limiting its musical entertainment, and hiring a 30-year restaurant consultant, among other things, and writing in a letter to the editor that public safety was its highest priority.
Lincoln’s opened to a packed house on March 15, 2010. Since then, the restaurant had featured a mix of family friendly entertainment, music, comedy, community events, and food and drinks. Owners and managers had recently said they were trying to become more of a restaurant and less of a bar.
Lincoln’s was a popular place to watch sports, and among other things, the restaurant hosted a Wednesday night call-in television show featuring Oak Ridge High School football coach Joe Gaddis. The staff also hosted community events such as pancake breakfasts.
In June, Lincoln’s attorney Allen E. Schwartz said the restaurant paid roughly $250,000 in taxes last year.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
David Crowe says
Very sorry to see Lincolns close. It really is a shame. I can’t help think that better management may have been able to keep them afloat. There is simply no excuse for not checking ID’s when patrons are ordering alcohol.
Dave Smith says
There’s a really thought-provoking letter to the editor by Ray Garrett in today’s Oak Ridger. On the front page is the announcement that Lincoln’s has closed, while just a few pages further in Ray makes a very good case for why Lincoln’s is (was) very important to the present and future vitality of Oak Ridge.
This might be just another anecdote in the arsenal of those who claim that Oak Ridge is not a friendly place for small, locally owned businesses.
Kay Williamson says
Please remember to VOTE,
Ellen Smith says
I don’t believe that the Lincoln’s situation can be blamed on Oak Ridge’s elected officials. Several of times I visited Lincoln’s, it was because someone in city government wanted to show the place off to a visitor or newcomer to the city.
WK Hyatt says
I hate to see Lincoln’s close, I think they could have solved the problems with good training and better vigilance as far as checking IDs etc. In this day and age, you card everyone and pay very close attention to the ID they are showing you. I think all the bad publicity and the hearings etc. whittled their business down to where they could not continue. I do get the feeling that Lincolns was focused on more than the corporate chain establishments that also serve alcohol and if memory serves me correctly have also been called on the carpet for underage sales and even a fight in the past, yet they got a week or so and back rolling. What will really hurt here is single and young people, who like to go have an order of wings and a cold one and watch a game or a race, have no where to go now here in Oak Ridge. I guess its back to Double Dogs or some other Knoxville sports bar venue……and with it, those sales tax dollars….no wonder new hires at the plants blow off Oak Ridge right away and head to Knoxville, this is part of it….
Philip W Nipper says
I have always said Oak Ridge needs something like a nice Hooters or two.
Levi D. Smith says
I don’t drink alcohol, so this place not serving beer did not make a difference to me. The first time I went there, the service was really slow. The second time I tried this place, I couldn’t watch the game because they didn’t have ESPNU. It’s hard to compete as a sports bar with just basic cable. The last time I stopped by to watch a bowl game on New Year’s Eve, but they were closed. I never bothered going there again after that. I’m not trying to dump on a recently closed business, but I think Lincoln’s problems were a little deeper than just losing a beer permit.
Mark Caldwell says
Good riddance to bad news.
This was not the kind of business we need in our city. If a business cannot or will not obey the laws, let alone one that caters to clientele that riot in public, they should be closed. The owners of Lincoln’s have only themselves to blame.
Let’s hope that another company comes in and uses this space. Oak Ridge should have a sports bar.