Tailgators, a venerable watering hole that closed May 1, is being reborn as “Whiskey’s.”
If all goes as planned, owner David Sitar said the bar-restaurant will open by Monday, Nov. 8.
“That’s what I’m shooting for. I already have a few parties booked,” Sitar, an Oxford native, said Tuesday.
Sitar co-owned Tailgators for 15 years. His said his previous partnership went south and the business dissolved.
Sitar said the new bar and restaurant will be different than Tailgators in a number of ways.
Tailgators — with classic Sports Illustrated articles decorating its bar — was a sports bar to its core.
Whiskey’s will have lots of big screen televisions and sports programming, but Sitar won’t market it as a sports bar.
“I think, to be honest, the whole sports bar concept is played out,” he said.
Furthermore, Sitar said the sports bar hook tends to alienate young women, a major demographic he wants to attract.
Whiskey’s most likely won’t do lunches, because there’s no demand for it. Instead the emphasis will be on happy hour, dinner and evening entertainment.
The new bar won’t have booths, which Sitar said were damage-prone.
“Once they were damaged, it was hard to fix and they looked bad,” he said.
Instead, it will be high wood tables and chairs along the perimeter, with lower wooden tables in the middle.
“It’s going to look good,” Sitar said.
The bathrooms are being gutted and redone, the floors are being redone and the place is being repainted, top to bottom.
The outside dining area is being renovated, and the area along the Naugatuck River is being cleared so patrons will have a view of the water.
Plans are in the works to redo the parking lot and add a front patio, Sitar said.
The old Tailgators roof sign, a landmark of sorts in the Valley, is being replaced by an illuminated “Whiskey’s” sign.
It will be slightly smaller than the old sign. Underneath, a tag line will proclaim “I love this bar,” a nod to the classic Toby Keith good-time tune.
Keith’s song “Whiskey Girl” inspired the new bar’s name, Sitar said.
Sitar said a website for the business will go live this week. A Facebook page will follow.
Public records show the city just granted him a sign permit for the new business.
“I’m extremely excited to be coming back,” Sitar said.
