3 Crow Bar Building to Be Sold

The central bar spot at Five Points in East Nashville currently home to 3 Crow Bar has seen a lot of change — and it's about to see some more. Reports from staff members and those familiar with the deal say that the property at 1024 Woodland St. is scheduled to be sold next week. The group that also owns The Holistic Connection and Germantown’s Buds & Brews will acquire the popular spot, with 3 Crow Bar to close. The new owners have not yet specified what they will open in the space and are said to be evaluating different concepts.

In recent years, 3 Crow Bar, owned by Ric Clarke — owner of Red Door Saloon and the now-closed Tenn Sixteen — Kelly Jones and Bill Carney, has been the site of controversy. And long before that, the neighborhood corner bar became a cornerstone for East Nashville.

In 2021, the Five Points bar brought in new managers, which was immediately followed by a contentious staff turnover. Many former employees report that they were fired or walked out after others were fired. Some say they were accused of stealing alcohol. Customers and staff alike were frustrated that this happened just a year after they helped pitch in to clean up after the March 2020 tornado. The bar’s official statement at the time was that “most all of our staff left their employ of their own accord.”

There was a change in the air after that. Beloved 3 Crow bartenders went to work elsewhere, and in some cases, their clientele followed. Recent months have seen a 3 Crow with empty seats, even at peak times. A decade ago, locals were sitting in the window openings or on the patio on warm days, and it could be hard to get in the door. Of course, some loyal 3 Crow customers remained, and the bar’s prime location in the Five Points neighborhood with its great people-watching windows attracted new customers. 

Even before 3 Crow was known for its Bushwhackers, before it was a place neighborhood folks would stop in at before heading home, that piece of real estate was an essential part of the East Nashville scene. 

In 2000, Mike Grimes bought what was then Shirley’s Bar on what he has sometimes described as, if not a whim, then a not-entirely-thought-out business plan. While it might be hard to imagine today, the spot he renamed Slow Bar was a radical idea for East Nashville. That was after the 1998 tornado and the Tennessee Titans had just opened their stadium on the East Bank, and there were only early adopters in the food scene in Nashville. Slow Bar was intended to be a casual beer-only bar but became a music venue. It was open for only three years, but in that time Slow Bar helped change the music scene in East Nashville and the landscape in general. (Grimes is still a leader in the city’s music scene and owns several other essential East Nashville spots, including The Basement East and Grimey’s New and Preloved Music.) Despite being gone for 20 years, Slow Bar has been name-checked in songs by Todd Snider and others.

In 2004, Clarke, Jones and Carney opened 3 Crow in the old Slow Bar space. This was back when Clarke’s Red Door East was just an idea. 

In 2007, 3 Crow stopped booking live music, but remained a place for trivia nights, Bushwhackers, a beer while working on the laptop (even before the pandemic-driven uptick in remote working), trivia nights and a popular patio. It was often named by Scene readers as a contender for Best Neighborhood Bar, Best Dive Bar and even Best Trivia Night in our annual Best of Nashville issue.

In addition to the ownership changes, the management changes and just being in the center of a changing neighborhood, it has weathered other drama. In 2015, a car ran into the bar (and not for the first time), knocking out bricks and breaking glass. The bar still opened for trivia night. 

County tax records show the building dates to 1935, so that corner spot saw significant change even before recent memory. Change is hard, but also inevitable. Stay tuned to find out what’s next for the neighborhood’s corner.