"I don't know if you can distinguish between the bad economy and the competition," Zanini said. Outside of the immediate Beach and Hodges intersection, it's difficult to tell what impact the Ale House is having.Īt Beef O'Brady's family sports bar about a mile west on Beach, owner Steve Zanini acknowledged his business is down this year. "There's only so many rooftops here and we're not hurting our location off of Southside as much as we thought." We're drawing a good percentage from the Beaches," Herndon said. "We're definitely drawing from the Beaches. In fact, he said many of the patrons flooding the Ale House are coming from far outside the Intracoastal West and a substantial number of clientele are from the Beaches. Herndon said they're not about to turn customers away. For the size of that building, that's not enough parking." "All that parking in front of other businesses got taken up. "It's taking parking into the shopping center," Romero said. While the novelty of the new Ale House may be starting to wear off and business is returning to the Times Grill, Romero said spillover parking from Ale House during the weekends, especially during football season, is getting out of control. "This blocks our view, this more than anything," Romero said.
Still, Romero said the Ale House building alone obscured the view of the Times sports bar and that can't ever be replaced. But it hasn't been dipping down too much. Our business dipped down during lunch at first. "People were going out there and trying it out. "It definitely put us on our toes, it would anybody," said Times General Manager Edwin Romero. Times Grill used to be the first business motorists would see at the intersection's southwest corner - before Ale House was built. There was definitely a lot of excitement before we opened," Herndon said.Īt the Times Grill just south of Ale House, workers at that sports bar admitted there was anxiety as the new competition was under construction. "A lot of the success is attributed to the Ale House itself everybody recognizes the name, and the location you can't beat. "It's definitely gone better than we expected, I'd have to say," Herndon said Friday as the Florida-Georgia weekend was getting under way. The Beach and Hodges location exceeded expectations. "When you're right there at a traffic light, everyone's sitting there and looking," said Corey, acknowledging that his restaurant has nowhere near the profile of Ale House.Īle House General Manger Craig Herndon said even he's surprised at how popular the establishment has become because there are about 50 of the restaurants in the chain. The Ale House is what's known as an "outparcel," a building separated from the string of businesses connected to each other and set back from the road. "They definitely have taken a good part of our sports business," said Tom Corey, owner of Big T's Steakhouse to the south off Hodges in the same Hodges Pointe shopping center.īut Big T's is part of the main hub of buildings at the center. Meanwhile, the Ale House is taking a bite out of other restaurants in the area that were designed to cater to a sports-loving crowd. Overflow parking spills into lots that were designed for other stores such as Beall's and Wal-Mart. Miller's Ale House opened just a few feet from the intersection's traffic light in September and the chain sports bar and restaurant has been booming every weekend since. While the conglomeration of businesses at Beach and Hodges boulevards promised a slew of new jobs in the past few years, one new business is starting to take over at the bustling Intracoastal West crossroads.
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