Thursday nights in Farmville have been considerably quieter as of late. Much, if not all of this can be contributed to what has, or has not, been happening at 202 High Street since last November. The closing of Mulligan's Sports Grille, Farmville's basement bar and grill and unofficial "place to be" on Thursday nights, left a deep void in the college town's social scene.
"My sorority sisters and I would go to Mulligan's every Thursday last semester, and it was something that we looked forward to all week," said senior Emily Carlton. "It was great because of how close it was to campus."
Coincidentally, much of Farmville's late-week, college-aged nightlife had been diverted to locales such as Buffalo Street and Main Street Lanes bowling alley, which Carlton described as being "too far, too cramped, and too smoky."
However, after nearly two months of darkened windows, empty tables, and a vacant marquee, the corner of High and Venable Streets may soon be thrust back to life and relevance as one of the premier destinations for partygoers from Longwood and Hampden-Sydney College.
Since the bar's initial closing, there have been numerous rumors about tentative opening dates, ownership takeovers that have fallen through for whatever reasons, and even short-lived talk suggesting that what is indeed opening in place of Mulligan's will not even be a bar at all.
But just as the future of Farmville's already dwindling nightlife scene seemed to be as uncertain as where to find the party on Thursday night, an answer emerged from none other than Facebook. A page promoting the new 202 Bar & Grill was created in mid-December and has been providing the online community at Longwood and the surrounding area with glimpses of the progress being made ever since.
This progress is thanks to a joint venture by two Farmville business owners who purchased the former home of Mulligan's and Grady's Barbecue. David Carmichael and Scotty Keeton, owners of Main St. Lanes and Keeton Soundz, respectively, figured that the opportunity to renovate the property would "work well for the community."
"We finalized the deal around Thanksgiving . and have been renovating ever since," said Carmichael in a January 23 interview. "The scope of renovations was much larger than we originally anticipated," he added. "We learned a lot of lessons about renovating older buildings. Once you start changing things you often have to change more than you wanted to."
When asked specifically about the renovations, Carmichael drew a deep breath before detailing the nearly endless list of what he described as "necessary upgrades" to the facility, both bar and restaurant areas included.
"The menu is going to be better, the food will be nicer, and we will have the barbecue that patrons knew from Grady's." Carmichael also stated that there will be one menu at all times for both the bar and restaurant areas.
Carmichael suggested that the overall feel of the new bar area will be much improved. "We think that we have upgraded the lower bar area to a point where people will feel comfortable being there. It doesn't have a dirty, dingy feel to it anymore. Outside of tearing it down, we've either cleaned, repaired and repainted every square inch of the facility."
A tour of the new 202 Bar & Grill confirmed Carmichael's sentiments; new walls featuring fresh paint and exposed brick in some places; the floors grinded down to their original concrete surfaces; every wooden surface from the bar top to the dining tables had been sanded down and refinished to a high gloss; the bathrooms and kitchens gutted, and all fixtures and plumbing replaced; new lights, new televisions, and a new audio system.
Often times the words "new and improved" walk hand-in-hand with a higher cost of operation that gets handed down to the customers. Carmichael insisted that with the opening of 202, this would not be the case.
"I don't think we have done anything to price it out of anyone's range," he stated. "We will have menu items that will run the gamut, from low-cost to a little bit higher-end."
He clarified that not only did they seek student opinions who frequent the local bar scene, but sought input from every corner of the Farmville community to generate ideas and bring improvements to the corner of High and Venable. "They wanted it cleaner, more visually appealing, with better food offerings and quicker service."
Patrons will also see new eighteen-and-over nights, as Carmichael addressed that by only appealing to the twenty-one-and-up crowd at nights, a large portion of the student population is excluded. He suggested that there would be a possible cover charge on nights with lowered age restrictions. Carmichael was quick to point out that there will be no cover charge on Thursday nights, which will remain strictly twenty-one-and-up.
Also, the ownership has already begun to receive requests from student organizations for theme nights and opportunities to utilize the facility's services to their benefits. Carmichael said that these would be happening as soon as the bar opens.
Pending a successful final health inspection on Wed., Jan. 26, the downstairs bar area of 202 Bar & Grill will be open to the public on Tues., Feb. 1, with the upstairs restaurant opening one to two weeks later. 202's tentative first Thursday night will be Feb. 3, with food and drink specials and a larger-than-normal crowd expected.
Laughing, Carmichael said that they "wanted to open before too many Thursday nights disappeared."
While he stated his displeasure with not being able to open by the start of the spring semester, he also stated that the delay was necessary. "We've really been doing everything we can, working a ton of hours to get the renovations done, and there was just a certain level that had to be done before we could open. The facility was simply in a worse condition than we thought."
And that meant a much higher final cost than was initially expected. "We've probably doubled our budget," said Carmichael, "but once we got into it, we thought that it was important to do it right."
For more information on 202 Bar & Grill, visit their Facebook page or e-mail them at bar202@hotmail.com. For employment inquiries, visit Main St. Lanes.
