Photo Credit: Isaac MacDonald
A lack of a beer permit has hampered Morgan Wallen’s Nashville bar opening, preventing the bar from opening Memorial Day weekend as expected.
According to a representative for the beer board, the permit will be approved once bar management passes code and fire inspection. Speaking to a local news outlet, a spokesperson for ‘This Bar’ says the beer permit approval is not the reason for the venues’ delayed opening, stating that all parties are “working through all of the complexities of starting this new business.”
News of the delayed opening came after the Nashville Metro city council denied an aerial encroachment permit for the bar’s flashy neon sign to hang above its entrance on Broadway. A spokesperson for the bar says the delay is a result of wanting to provide an exceptional experience for patrons—which requires more time.
“I can confirm that we did not approve their beer permit ahead of Memorial Day weekend,” the full statement from the beer board representative says. “I would not want to speculate on when the approval would happen. It all depends upon when bar management passes their codes and fire inspections.”
Morgan Wallen and TC Restaurant Group hoped to have ‘This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen’ open for the Memorial Day weekend—but faced several challenges.
Aside from the venue’s alcohol permit not being approved, the bar was unable to hang its flashy neon sign due to the Metro city council vote. The city council cited two past behavioral issues from Morgan Wallen as reasons to deny that permit including Wallen’s use of a racial slur in 2021 and his tossing of a chair from a Eric Church’s nearby bar. The tossed chair hit the ground not far from two police officers in the vicinity.
“I don’t want to see a billboard up with the name of a person who’s throwing chairs off of balconies and who is saying racial slurs,” council member Delishia Porterfield said during the vote. The 20-foot neon sign reads ‘Morgan Wallen’s This Bar.’ The Nashville city council voted 30-3 not to allow the sign, with four council members abstaining from the vote.
Wallen has publicly apologized for both spewing racial slurs and tossing chairs, stating he needed to check in with Nashville law enforcement, his family, and the people at the bar before publicly apologizing. “I’m not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility.” Wallen has been charged with three felony counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
