Brown’s Diner Sells as Owner Concludes 47-Year Run [Updated]

Brown’s Diner — the 1927-opened legendary beer and burger joint — will be sold Wednesday.

Jim Love, who has owned the basic yet iconic restaurant and bar for 47 years, confirmed Tuesday the looming tentative sale of the business. Love also owns the property from which Brown’s Diner operates, having paid $140,000 for it in 1982, according to Metro records. The property also will be sold, Love tells the Scene.

Love, 75, declines to disclose the sale price or buyer.

"I've had some wonderful employees over the years and am so glad that many stayed with me," Love says.

The address of the Hillsboro Village-area diner is 2102 Blair Blvd., with the business housed in an old mule-drawn trolley car that is easily visible from bustling 21st Avenue South.

Love will close the business on Thursday, Dec. 31, and plans to retire thereafter. He says the future owners — the identities of which the Scene has been unable to confirm — plan to keep Brown’s as is, including decor and fixtures. Staff will return once the business reopens. Love says he has been employing 10 workers, down from a pre-COVID-19 number of 15.  

Of note, Brown’s holds the longest-running valid beer license in Nashville, Love tells the Scene. Metro records show that Oda Brown acquired the property in 1937. The business was named for Charlie Brown, Oda's then-husband. Brown's Diner began life at the Blair and 21st intersection site home to the Kinnard Building.

Eater.com was the first to report the diner business will purchased, reportedly by owners of a local barbecue restaurant business.

Update, Dec. 30: Multiple sources tell Scene sister publication the Nashville Post that the future owner either is or has been connected to Nashville-based Edley's Bar-B-Que.