Legendary Lexington restaurant closing ahead of big move, but for how long?
If you count on a burger or milkshake from Tolly Ho to see you through the night, then brace yourself because the Lexington restaurant is about to close.
But only for a short time.
Tolly Ho posted signs on the door of the South Broadway location saying that the legendary restaurant will be temporarily closed as of July 29 so it can move to its new location at 350 Foreman Ave, the former Bad Wolf Burgers spot.
According to the late-night restaurant, the new location is expected to open next month.
Why is Tolly Ho temporarily closing and moving?
Tolly Ho is moving because the University of Kentucky purchased the existing building at 606 S. Broadway for $2.3 million after a February vote by the board of trustees.
The building had been Hart’s Dry Cleaning before Tolly Ho moved in in spring of 2011.
The building at 606 S. Broadway is surrounded by properties already owned by UK, in “an area planned for development of an innovation corridor that stretches from The Cornerstone building on South Limestone to the Gray Design Building at Broadway and Scott Street.
This multiyear project will further connect the university to downtown Lexington and serve as a catalyst for innovation, design, entrepreneurship and job creation in the decades to come.” UK spokesman Jay Blanton said, in March, “We have signed a purchase and sale agreement for the property. We are now in the process of conducting due diligence, so I don’t have a timetable on a next phase. Our hope, long term, is for this property to be part of the growing innovation district off of Broadway that includes the Gray College of Design, Cornerstone and the presence we have there with our College of Fine Arts.”
History of Tolly Ho, how it got its name, what’s on the menu
The restaurant, founded in 1971 by Bob Tolley and Bob Hollopeter (the Tolley and the Ho in the name), opened originally at 108 W. Euclid (it’s now called Winslow Street) before moving to South Limestone in the early 1980s.
The original spot closed on March 11, 1985, as a 24-hour greasy spoon before moving to 395 S. Limestone, where it served burgers, shakes, breakfast and more until May 2011.
It’s known as a crossroads of UK and Lexington life, where students, professors, workers and doctors can get breakfast any time as well as the famous “Ho burger.”
