Last Call
Longtime Uptown restaurant and watering hole Thomas Avenue Beverage Co. closesits doors
Longtime Uptown restaurant and late-night spot Thomas Avenue Beverage Company has closed. Located at the corner of Thomas Avenue (natch) and Allen Street, TABC was known as much for the food as it was for when the lights went down and the place transformed into a proper bar.
According to signage posted on the window, J. Elmer Turner Realtors locked TABC and owner Russell Hayward out of the building for failure to pay rent. The notice was first sent to Hayward on December 31, 2012.
On January 24, 2013, TABC would have celebrated its 18th birthday in Uptown.
Another sign on the front door, signed by "The Owner," says that TABC is closed until further notice. Attempts to reach Hayward and TABC were not successful.
TABC’s lease dates back nearly 18 years, to January 24, 1995. The restaurant has been a mainstay in Uptown, but in recent months its late-night business has dwindled, at least from this writer’s experience.
TABC was always considered a strong option among the UT, TCU and SMU crowd — especially for those looking for an Uptown option off McKinney Avenue. Many were often alumni of Dallas’ private schools or part of HP Nation. In recent months, however, that crowd began migrating to Mason Bar, which opened in February 2012.
The last few times we stopped by TABC on the weekend, there was hardly anyone in there — a far cry from the packed throngs that used to frequent it just this summer.
Hayward also owns the recently opened Ascension Coffee in the Design District.