Another Lexington restaurant is closing ... but for different reasons

Bradford BBQ is closing in Lexington after the University of Kentucky/University of Louisville football game on Saturday but you’ll still be able to get their smoked meat.

Owners Matt and Jennifer Bradford are moving the business to Garrard County where they are setting up shop in the historic Governor William Owsley house in Lancaster. They hope to open as a venue for weddings and events in the spring. In the meantime they will still be catering out of their food truck.

Rather than being a casualty of the crowded Lexington dining scene, the Bradfords say they are moving so they can expand.

“It’s basically a relocation, and we’re under the gun to get open before wedding season to start booking,” Matt Bradford said. The move will allow them to add a venue and possibly more than one venue for events, plus expand the scope of events they can cater.

A carriage house on the grounds of the Governor Williams Owsley House at 656 Standford Road will serve as their restaurant, he said.

“This will be the hub, a home of operations for the restaurant. To do the volume, we needed more equipment and more space,” Bradford said. “We had to turn down large parties because we didn’t have the capacity. This will allow us to do events for thousands.”

They hope to be open in March or April, as soon as the liquor license is approved. Their first unofficial event will be a Jan. 1 party for a performer at the Lancaster Grand Theatre.

“We will still have the food truck in Lexington and we have catering contracts with UK and large companies and will still be able to do delivery and catering,” he said.

The Zandale restaurant opened in May 2015. Jennifer Bradford said they eventually plan to reopen a kitchen in Lexington to continue catering efforts, which have ranged from Northern Ohio to Bowling Green already.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 1:53 PM with the headline "Another Lexington restaurant is closing ... but for different reasons."