Jon Solomon
Audio By Carbonatix
Spike TV’s Bar Rescue recently returned to Denver to film an episode that will kick off the fifth season, when Jon Taffer attempts to save State Pub. Haven’t heard of it? That’s clearly one reason this bar needed to be rescued. The show describes the saloon as a “college bar outside of Denver, with a prospective owner who has run into debt and scares away customers while drinking on the job.” Sounds like our kind of place, though the preview doesn’t give a viewer much hope that State Pub can be saved.
And, in fact, a little Googling indicates that State Pub might already have been transformed into Downstairs Bar + Kitchen, at 4386 South Broadway in Englewood — or at least shares an address with it. But we won’t know for sure until the new episode of Bar Rescue, headlined “Sean’s Drunk Again,” airs at 8 p.m. Sunday, February 19.
Zanzibar, post-rescue.
Jon Solomon
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Bar Rescue has been in town before; in March 2013, it featured Zanzibar Billiards, at 2046 Larimer Street, in an episode in which Zanzibar owner Ami Benari and Taffer nearly got into a brawl over proposed fixes, including changing the name to Solids & Stripes Badass Billiards. That didn’t last, though Benari did follow some of Taffer’s advice. “In general, we’re very grateful,” he told us a year after the transformation. “They could have done more, but they did a nice job. And we’re thankful for the exposure and for the advice. Except the name. The name sucked.”
Bar Rescue isn’t done with Denver yet; it is slated to feature other Colorado saloons in upcoming episodes.