"The Irish Times and the Landlord have both agreed to terminate their lease early. Therefore Saturday, March 21st shall be our last day. Hope you can make it in for a farewell pint. Thank you all for your continued support and friendship over the past 8 years."

The Mrs. was just over by Brackin's and checked in. They are definitely closed. Someone there said someone else may reopen it eventually, but didn't have any more info.

Clearly these folks weren't aware of this bountiful economic recovery our Lord&Savior B. Hussein Obama has bestowed upon us. Knoxviews nuthouse regulars should go speak to the owners, and that should also cover about 95% of the local media so they'd also get some free coverage.

The owner was pretty much a jerk about smoking and seemed not to care that many people, including me, would not go there because of the smoke. He went on and on about "freedom to smoke" and to run his business without the government telling him what to do.

I do not know if the problems were related to the size of the audience but if so, maybe there are more of us than there are of them.

Heard on good authority that unpaid taxes were the reason Brackins closed. Owner is trying to sell it now. Maybe someone else will reopen it.

Xmd and yellowdog, I'd never heard of Brackin's Blues Bar nor do I have any dog in this race but I am confused by your (and/or this bar owner's) comments about Tennessee's smoking law?

"The government" in TN doesn't tell any restaurant/bar owner he must ban smoking, so long as he elects to serve just those age 21 or over.

I wasn't able to quickly determine how many Maryville or Knoxville restaurants/bars have elected to serve just those over 21 and in that way remain smoking establishments, but I did see that Nashville continues to operate 532 such establishments.

Daily Times with a fluff piece that doesn't really tell much about what's going on other than the owner of the building is leasing it to someone else who will open a new bar.

Brackins' Blues: Owner of downtown building says ‘better’ club planned - The Daily Times: News

Walker Johnson, owner of the building at 112 E. Broadway Ave., gave a glimpse of the future of Brackins Blues Club on Thursday. Johnson said he didn’t own the club, so he couldn’t speak for the business owner or potential new owner. But he did say this. “We’ve got a lease in the works.” The plan is for a lease to be effective April 1. Whether that turns out to be prophetic — April Fools' Day — remains to be seen.

(Did not know Walker Johnson owned it.)

My point was that Mark Brackins chose to run a bar serving only people over 21 so he could have smoking permitted by TN law. Fine. Many people would not go there because of the smoke. He thinks people should be able to smoke in a public place like a bar so he ran his bar so they could. More power to him. There are more people even in TN who do not smoke than who do, so perhaps his decision cost him money.

Heard on good authority that unpaid taxes were the reason Brackins closed.

Ah ha! Hussein overtaxed them until it killed their business! If only Mitt had been elected, the economy and this marvel of an establishment would both be smokin'!!