It would appear that one of my all-time favorite Tampa hangouts is no more. The legendary Proud Lion Pub, which had been around for almost 40 years is closed. The guy who owned it for the last five months or so is probably sitting somewhere (most likely, another bar) shaking his head sadly and blaming the economy for this unfortunate circumstance. But if he really wants to see who's to blame, all he has to do is raise up his head and look in the mirror.I don't know what it is about jackasses who think they know the bar & restaurant business but there sure does seem to be a surplus of them. A note to future jackass wannabe entrepreneurs: hanging around in bars and restaurants does not qualify you to own and manage one. The only way to be successful in that racket is to bust your ass around the clock, every day of the week. Don't believe me? Ask the owners of all the successful grazing areas that you enjoy and see if their stories don't sound almost identical. The only thing this particular jackass, whose name is Clark Briggs (yeah, I know. Seriously, how messed up is that?), put effort into was driving away good people, loyal customers and equally loyal employees. Food that had been excellent started tasting like stuff that Banquet wouldn't serve in their tv dinners. Waitstaff that had been friendly and skilled were replaced by people who were utterly and entirely incompetent in all areas. Live entertainment was eliminated in favor of a couple of new televisions (all jackass restaurateurs are of the belief that the inclusion of at least two televisions automatically makes any place a "sports bar", even if those televisions are frequently tuned to re-runs of "Law & Order"). A person I know did some work for the Proud Lion Pub, in large part because she liked the place so much (from the good will earned by the previous owners and staff), and she's now left holding the bag for expenses incurred, which is obviously money she'll never see.
Sure, shit happens and things are tough all over. But it's just a shame because this is yet another instance where it simply didn't have to happen. No business, and certainly no restaurant, sticks around that long if they aren't doing things the right way. And all it took to wipe that away was a few weeks of doing things the wrong way. To destroy an establishment that was so well...um, established...in less than half a year is pretty remarkable, in a way. Kind of the same way that pissing away a $5.6 trillion budget surplus in a year is remarkable.
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13 comments:
That is just so wrong!! They had the best Reubens!
Bravo!
As someone who really liked the Proud Lion this is actually quite sad. I'm not sure "Bravo!" is an apppropriate reaction.
The place has been a staple of Tampa for decades... it's a shame what happened over the past few months.
We'll see what happens.
For what it's worth, I know for a fact that Kelly was not saying "Bravo!" to the place closing.
I have reason to believe that this place will re-open soon!
Clark Brooks just cause your a drunk petefile who cant hold his alcohol and probably got removed from your so called favorite bar doesn't mean you have too try to make yourself feel better by belittling someone else who was probably trying to better the establishment. Look on the bright side now you have more time too pleasure yourself in front of your computer while looking at women you will never have or even come close enough to so that you can catch a whiff of there perfume. So in the mean time go blow yourself
Continued success to you at Oxford, Anon.
Hey Anonoymous (or your real name Gutless D. Bagge),
Tell your friend Clark BRIGGS to take some of the money he saved by not paying his bills and go buy some fingers.
And don't be late tonight. It's your turn to shave my hump and you know how I like it to be nice and smooth before I watch American Idols.
Sincerely,
The Toothless Skank-Goblin that birthed you.
Did that guy just call you a metafile? Someone needs to get off the 'net ... hahahaha, (sigh)!
It is quite possible that Anonymous or Clark Briggs, as his driver’s license says, wasn't able to keep his establishment open due to his inability to understand the English language. Seriously in this day and age with spell check writing petefile is a tossup between laughable and just plain sad.
In response to "ANNoyed by ignorance," I can assure you that Clark doesn't blog! As a friend to Clark, none of you know what you are talking about! The only thing that happened here is that the "girls" produced cooked books and caused someone to lose their life savings. Those are the facts!
To the anonymous pussy who wrote to buy some fingers, really? Have some consideration for the fact that he may have family or other friends who read this. Since you obviously don't know him you wouldn't know that he did that working. Of course, you don't know shit about working! How's life being layed off? U enjoying the unemployment line every Friday? If you're such a great business man, get your lazy ass off the couch and buy the restaurant! It takes balls and money and you obviously have neiter!
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