The owners drive the nails as the Tin Roof prepares to open
Jason Sheer is a hands-on businessman in the truest sense.
“I’ve got the hammer in my hand and we are going at it,” the co-owner of the Tin Roof said Tuesday in a telephone interview.
Sheer was working at South Limestone and Maxwell streets where the live-music restaurant chain is about to open its newest location, probably in February.
“It always depends on the city and when we can get our liquor license,” he said.
The license won’t be issued until the building near the University of Kentucky campus is finished and fully furnished with everything from the stage and bar to tables, chairs and glassware.
The location is a former Huddle House restaurant that has been greatly expanded, including the addition of a large party deck.
“You won’t recognize it,” Sheer said, and he was right.
After the structural work was done by professionals, Sheer and other Tin Roofers swooped down to do the finishing work, like installing the bar and, at this location, barn wood wall covering from a sawmill in Lancaster.
“We do a lot of the finish work ourselves rather than trying to explain what we want to carpenters and painters,” Sheer said. “We just think it’s easier and more fun to do it ourselves — and cheaper, too, for that matter.”
The company has venues in Nashville and Franklin, Tenn., that offer live entertainment from name artists — Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney and Jon Bon Jovi, to name a few — as well as local artists who may be well-known only to family, friends and the make-believe audience in their showers.
For now, Sheer says anyone who wants to work or entertain at the new Tin Roof should call co-owner Wes Stephens, who helped him install the bar and barn wood on Tuesday, at (615) 480-8686. The Lexington Tin Roof will have a Web site, Sheer said, but it’s not ready yet.
