Buckhead Saloon Raleigh Closes, Becoming a Hip Hop Club?

According to sources familiar with the situtation, Buckhead Saloon Raleigh on West Street in Downtown Raleigh has closed its doors. There were rumors flying back in late 2009 that the bar was going to shut down and reopen as a Hip Hop club but nothing came of those rumors until this week.

An attempt to contact Buckhead resulted in an answering machine message stating, “If you are trying to contact Buckhead Saloon, we are sorry but we have shut our doors and are permanently out of business.” A few parting words are being uttered on Buckhead Raleigh’s Facebook page as well.

As for the Hip Hop bar rumors, New Raleigh has no information along these lines and will keep our eyes and ears open.

Buckhead interior photo by John Morris @ Goodnight Raleigh

• Dan
  01/21 09:56 AM
  

  That location can’t hold a business. It has been numerous bars since I’ve moved here (‘94). Is it the building? The spot in town?

• Champ77
  01/21 10:02 AM
  

  You could knock me over with a feather I’m so surprised.

• gd
  01/21 10:16 AM
  

  i’d imagine it has something to do with how large the space is for a business downtown - that can’t be cheap rent…

• bobby.is.rad
  01/21 10:33 AM
  

  good riddance.

• trey
  01/21 10:37 AM
  

  please no ‘hip-hop’.  i know this sounds bad but if this opens, I guarantee the police will end up shutting the place down.  its exactly what happened next to Five-Star.

• gd
  01/21 11:02 AM
  

  Two T’s does fine downtown as a “hiphop” spot- why not another?

• Big Ted
  01/21 11:40 AM
  

  people act like hip-hop equals trouble. what other music is as unifying and universal?

• RaleighRob
  01/21 12:34 PM
  

  I doubt location is the reason seeing as lots of bars and clubs in the immediate surroundings do pretty darn well.  Lots of street parking, several private lots, R-Line access, CAT access, frequent cabs, etc.

  But the best location in the world won’t do ya any good if it’s just a badly run business.

• Loren J. Gold
  01/21 01:14 PM
  

  Turn it into a Lucky Strike!  There is plenty of space.

• hackles10
  01/21 02:18 PM
  

  Lucky Strike would be awesome….continuing as a large, meatmarket, collegebar with no investment in infrastructure, interior, or overall theme will lead to another failed bar!

• GB
  01/21 02:22 PM
  

  This just made my day. Buckhead just sucked.

• ROB
  01/21 02:30 PM
  

  hip hop is def the most unifying music. just about everyone and their mama listens to at least some hip hop. this move should work just be sure to have a couple a raleigh police on patrol… lets be for real though lol

• leahisgreat
  01/21 02:48 PM
  

  How about a business that’s not a club.. like a Target or other retail???

• Harry Seaward
  01/21 03:48 PM
  

  hip hop!  hells to the yes!!  me and my crew will tear that place up!  fresh moves!

• MCM
  01/21 04:45 PM
  

  A hip hop club may not go out of business, but it would be shut down in 2 yrs. or less.

• gd
  01/22 08:10 AM
  

  Explain Two T’s then MCM…

• DJ George
  01/22 09:50 AM
  

  Too bad.  Nice layout but tough to fill.  They should have let DJ George play there more often!! 

• anneonymity
  01/22 11:07 AM
  

  i agree with “leahisgreat” - why not make it something other than a bar/club? how about a Trader Joe’s? that’d be awesome.

• CtrlBurn
  01/22 11:23 AM
  

  Buckhead failed because it was a least-common-denominator corporate bar.  It had no personality at all.  That’s why Jillian’s failed before it.  I agree that a grocery store there would be a real boon to people living downtown.

• Charlie
  01/22 11:53 AM
  

  I’m amazed at the amount of blatant racism in the comments section of this article.

• trey
  01/22 12:12 PM
  

  while everyone may ‘listen’ to rap/hip-hop, call it like it is. Most ‘white folks’ will not go to a ‘club’ thats heavy ‘African-american’.

  Call it ‘racisim’ if you want but the point of downtown development is to get businesses that can thrive and encourage other business to join in around them.  People don’t want to admit it but we all know that “hip-hop” joints have a tendency to generate a lot of police calls.  You may not want to admit this but you know its the truth.

  When the police have to show up every weekend, that doesn’t encourage growth.

• Arthurb3
  01/22 12:16 PM
  

  There is not enough parking for something like a retail store (Trader Joes, ect). That entire area is suppose to eventually become the Tranist Hub with the train and buses all in one location- eventually…..

• CF
  01/22 12:22 PM
  

  I bet you the Longbranch had their share of police calls.  Just because one or two so called hip hop clubs have a bad reputation, don’t assume that every other one fits this mold.

• Charlie
  01/22 01:49 PM
  

  What CF said

• tito
  01/22 04:00 PM
  

  i’d go to two t’s way before i’d go to ess lounge or longbranch. i’ve never heard of any problems at two t’s but i’ve heard first-hand many “cops called” stories at ess, longbranch, and white collar crime among others of the dance-music ilk.

• Harry Seaward
  01/22 04:10 PM
  

  i’m sorry but comparing a small bar like two Ts to a huge dance club like longbranch is kinda dumb.

• LB
  01/22 04:49 PM
  

  This the best news I’ve heard today.  I hated Buckhead!  Digging the Lucky Strike idea.

• JRD
  01/22 07:33 PM
  

  Buckhead is going to be replaced with a Hip hop bar?  Fine with me.  Now Ill never EVER go there.  Haha!  It will not last.  Buckhead sucked, Im glad its gone and I cant wait till this bar goes out of business.
  A grocery store would be nice though.  Any grocery store.

• Rokr
  01/22 08:44 PM
  

  Last I checked, Kings was still a vacant lot between a parking deck and Poole’s Diner.  I keed… Kings ain’t never coming back.

• smitty
  01/23 10:49 PM
  

  Why do you people cheer when a local business goes under?  Grow up.

• Micah
  01/24 06:23 PM
  

  How do you know the business “went under?”  It could have closed because it wasn’t producing the promised profits to the owners, or the owners could have moved to Vancouver to host a childrens television show.  Just because a place closes doesn’t mean that they have run up huge debts and declared bankruptcy, and most of all some business closings might just be because the owners simply wanted out for a myriad of reasons.

• JrD
  01/24 07:38 PM
  

  Buckhead sucked, good riddance.  Its not a local business anyways, they are a chain.

• Micah
  01/24 08:16 PM
  

  OR, they are a chain and they shuttered an under-performing site when the lease was up or the lease terms became unfavorable?  Extremely common.  I had no idea they were a chain.

• smitty
  01/24 10:44 PM
  

  I’m sure the people who worked there don’t really care about the particulars of whether it was a chain or not, they still lost their jobs and you folks are cheering.

• matt
  01/25 10:12 AM
  

  We’re NOT cheering because they lost their jobs, though. We’re cheering because that blight of a bar closed. If that place had been a processing plant for dog meat (that’s sort of how I saw Buckhead), I’d be sad that the dog-processors lost their jobs, but nonetheless glad that the dog processing plant had left the neighborhood.

  I’d be more worried that those dog-killers would be seeking employment at all the other, BETTER dog-processing plants, though. Like, say, yours!

• Bill M
  01/25 12:59 PM
  

  This thread seems to prove that Hip Hop isn’t a unifying music.  It seems polarizing and that’s good.  I don’t want your mom listening to my music.  Rock music was vital when it was causing riots.  I would suggest that World Music is the unifying category of music.  It is the Country Music of the world.

• Harry Seaward
  01/25 05:49 PM
  

  shut up bill. i hate world music.

• Bill M
  01/26 08:18 PM
  

  Whatever, Hairy Semen.

• CF
  01/27 07:57 AM
  

  Harry Dickwad.

• Brian
  01/27 11:27 AM
  

  Why are you guys making up unfunny puns when the original name is already a mildly funny pun?

• el beanzo
  01/27 01:25 PM
  

  Brian the bore.

• jb
  01/31 02:34 PM
  

  hard rock raleigh

• VanFan
  02/19 07:40 PM
  

  Maybe it will be a TJ McPickleShitters.