Culley's Pub to reopen in new location

A downtown bar scene staple for decades is reopening near Missouri State University.

Restaurateur Tim Bair, who owns four Bair’s All-American Sports Grill locations and the Bent Penny Tavern, said Culley’s Pub could reopen quietly as soon as tomorrow, with a grand opening sometime next week.

“That name evokes good times that were had there over the years,” Bair said of Culley’s, which closed in 2005 but arguably experienced its heyday in the 1980s and ‘90s on Park Central West. He said he hopes the bar will bring back old customers who remember the name, as well as residents of nearby student-housing developments.

Bair, who was a patron of Culley’s in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s when he attended MSU, said he trademarked the name in 2013 after finding out it wasn’t taken.

He signed a lease for the roughly 2,000-square-foot site in December, where the short-lived KimBrew Jazz Club had operated. Declining to disclose lease terms from CSS Properties, Bair said he penned a five-year deal for the 607 E. Madison St., Ste. 112, space. The property sits less than a mile away from Bair’s South Kimbrough Avenue restaurant.

On Madison, Bair said he created an experience similar to the old-school Culley’s, with a 44-foot bar, faux-hardwood floors, vintage-style Edison light bulbs, neon lights and a stage for live music. The bar also will serve food such as soft pretzels, mini-pizzas and nachos, he said.

Bair said he’s talked to musicians interested in playing shows at Culley’s - some of which did sets at the old location downtown - but has no firm dates.

“With the stage, we’re gonna have a focus on live music for sure,” he said.

At the 311 Park Central West building that formerly housed Culley’s, Scott Morris opened sports bar Falstaff's Local last summer. The original Culley’s sign hangs on the wall of the pub as decoration. Bair said he commissioned a new sign in the styling of the old location for the Madison Street bar.[[In-content Ad]]