Andy’s Bar in Denton Will Close Next Month After 30 Rowdy Years

After 30 years of business, Denton music venue Andy’s Bar is closing at the end of February. On Jan. 1, Charlie DeBolt, booker for Spune, took to Facebook to share that the venue was not renewing its lease and would be closing.

Andy’s Bar opened in 1994 in a three-story historic building at the corner of N. Locust and W. Oak streets in downtown Denton. Built in 1877, it's one of the oldest in the downtown area. Each story is owned by a different business. The basement was temporarily a nightclub called El Sotano but has remained closed since its eviction in April 2024. The ground floor is home to Andy’s Bar, a live music venue, and the top floor is Paschall Bar, a speakeasy-inspired cocktail bar.

Once upon a time, the building served as a grocery store before becoming a movie theater, initially named the Ritz Theater and later renamed as the Plaza Theater. Over time, it became a venue for adult films, infamously referred to as the Rathole. Paschall Bar’s name honors its original owner, B.F. Paschall.

According to a Denton County Appraisal District property search, the building was previously owned by an LLC associated with a business partner of Radical Hospitality and was sold in August 2024 to Green Eggs & Ham LLC. Green Eggs & Ham LLC also purchased 116 W. Oak St., the building McBrides Music & Pawn once called home, in 2023.

The Observer reached out to Radical Hospitality Group multiple times to clarify the closing details with no response. Radical Hospitality Group is the real estate group that also owned the recently closed Barley & Board restaurant, which sat adjacent to Andy’s Bar.

Erica Pipes has been a bartender at Andy’s for 13 years. She was taken by surprise when she found out the building was for lease last October. On Oct. 31, she was informed that Andy’s would not be renewing the lease in the recently sold building.

“There was some false hope of Spune renewing the lease,” Pipes says. “It sucks telling the bands that come through that we are closing.”

Spune began booking at the venue in 2019.

“We first started with the goal to host more touring acts at Andy’s,” Annette Marin, owner of Spune, says, “but over time the focus shifted towards local/regional acts.”

Marin was not involved in the negotiations, but says Spune did consider taking over the lease.

“Unfortunately the economics did not make sense and our bandwidth is already stretched thin with other projects in DFW [Ferris Wheelers, Tulips and Club Dada].”

Pipes says that ticket sales aren't suffering, but that bar sales are, which means the tips are too. She says that the younger crowd doesn’t drink as much, and a lot of the adults are choosing sober lifestyles (we love to see it). It's the bar side that isn't making money anymore.

Andy’s Bar capacity is 200. Since 2018, the venue has dealt with two shootings, threats to cover up a really cool mural and an employee walkout in June 2023.

“It is a bummer to be losing a staple of the community that's been around as long as it has,” DeBolt says. “I don't think anyone needs to see it as a tragedy we won't recover from.”

DeBolt notes that Denton has other solid venues that need love and support to "make sure this doesn't keep happening.”

Some of Little D's venues include Rubber Gloves, Dan’s Silverleaf and Harvest House. Smaller DIY venues (or, anti-venues if you will) include El Cucuy (formerly known as Killers Tacos), Green Goddess Revival, that “legal weed shop” by Orbit Press and Tom’s Daiquiri. There are still plenty of house venues hosting house shows — we just don't hear about them the older we get (respectfully).

If you're going to catch two shows before Andy’s closes. DeBolt says you should catch VALOWEEN on Feb. 15 and a fundraiser for the Denton Water Project on Feb. 11. VALOWEEN is the fifth and final edition of one of the first shows that DeBolt booked when he started booking at Andy’s for Spune. The Anti-Valentine's event is a crossover between Valentine's and Halloween. DeBolt calls it an excuse to have Halloween twice a year. Seven local bands will cover national touring acts including Atomic Rainbow and a Tame Impala set, Echo and Wednesday set, and Matchstick Ghost with tracks from the Twilight soundtrack.

DeBolt says the venue will have a show every day in February.

“We're going out with a bang," DeBolt says. "Hopefully there is a legacy to remember.”