MEMPHIS, Tenn. — ABC24 News has learned that a Downtown Memphis hotspot on Beale Street has closed its doors.
According to Jerred Price, President of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, 310 Beale, also known as Jerry Lee Lewis’ Café and Honky Tonk, has shut down, and a new tenant has been lined up to take over the space.
But according to a Facebook post Wednesday, some employees said they were given no warning and showed up to work to find the doors closed and themselves seemingly out of a job.
Ownership for the Memphis club says the post claiming that 20-plus employees showed up to work only to find the doors closed are not true. In fact, they say they gave employees plenty of notice and claim it was well-known they wanted to sell the building.
“We had a couple of board members that said they knew people that worked there that reached out to them and said that they had been immediately let go without notice,” said Jarred Price, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association.
Price said he and everyone in the community was shocked when they found out about 310 Beale. And how things reportedly ended for some staff members.
“Literally showed up for work and they were basically let go because of the prompt shutdown of Jerry Lee’s,” Price said.
Ted Hansom, managing member of Beale Holdings LLC. said they’ve been trying to sell the building since 2020 and it was just Thursday that they signed the contract to sublease the building to a new business.
“The employees who will be candid about it will tell you they were aware that we were under a contract to sell because in some cases we thought it was fair to let them know whether they could get rehired,” Hansom said.
Hansom adds the location stayed open as long as they could to keep people working.
“At least as of yesterday, there was an employee meeting, they were all told that we were going to sign the lease today,” he said.
Hansom added that some staff will keep working at Handy Bar, which they’re also involved in running. Price said that while he is excited for the new business coming downtown, he’s disappointed in how it was handled.
“I think you should always have the respect to let your employees know, ‘Hey, this is coming unfortunately,’” Price said.
Price and Hansom confirmed that a new restaurant and bar is coming to 310 Beale, run by a very well-established brand. There is hope that some of the staff could be rehired by the new business.
They currently have no timeline for when it might open.
