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

Dan01/21 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?

Champ7701/21 10:02 AM

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

gd01/21 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.rad01/21 10:33 AM

good riddance.

trey01/21 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.

gd01/21 11:02 AM

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

Big Ted01/21 11:40 AM

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

RaleighRob01/21 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. Gold01/21 01:14 PM

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

hackles1001/21 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!

GB01/21 02:22 PM

This just made my day. Buckhead just sucked.

ROB01/21 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

leahisgreat01/21 02:48 PM

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

Harry Seaward01/21 03:48 PM

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

MCM01/21 04:45 PM

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

gd01/22 08:10 AM

Explain Two T’s then MCM…

DJ George01/22 09:50 AM

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

anneonymity01/22 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.

CtrlBurn01/22 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.

Charlie01/22 11:53 AM

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

trey01/22 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.

Arthurb301/22 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…..

CF01/22 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.

Charlie01/22 01:49 PM

What CF said

tito01/22 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 Seaward01/22 04:10 PM

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

LB01/22 04:49 PM

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

JRD01/22 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.

Rokr01/22 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.

smitty01/23 10:49 PM

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

Micah01/24 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.

JrD01/24 07:38 PM

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

Micah01/24 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.

smitty01/24 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.

matt01/25 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 M01/25 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 Seaward01/25 05:49 PM

shut up bill. i hate world music.

Bill M01/26 08:18 PM

Whatever, Hairy Semen.

CF01/27 07:57 AM

Harry Dickwad.

Brian01/27 11:27 AM

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

el beanzo01/27 01:25 PM

Brian the bore.

jb01/31 02:34 PM

hard rock raleigh

VanFan02/19 07:40 PM

Maybe it will be a TJ McPickleShitters.

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Jedidiah Thursday, January 21, 2010