Popular Kentucky sports bar closing after 8 years ... with an exception for game days
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- KSBar, opened in 2018 by Matt Jones and partners, will close as a full-time sports bar.
- KSBar will continue to open as an event bar on University of Kentucky game days.
- Jones cited declining Wildcats, rising food costs and fewer patrons.
A bar that caters to Kentucky Wildcat fans is closing its doors on a daily basis, but plans to operate still on game days.
KSBar & Grille, the sports bar opened in 2018 by the Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones and partners, announced that it will be closing as a full-time sports bar.
The last weekend will be June 6-7.
The bar will open on Kentucky game days as an event bar, and Jones said they will still do the KSR show from there.
“We want to thank all of the fans for the support over these eight years. You guys are the best and we will miss seeing you every day. Our final weekend will be June 6 and 7 during Railbird and we hope between now and then you will stop by and have some wings and a cheese log with us one more time,” the restaurant said in a post on social media.
Jones said the lack of success by the Kentucky Wildcats in recent years contributed significantly to the restaurant’s viability.
“The combination of people not going to restaurants as much, food costs rising and the decline in performance — those things all just came together at the same time,” Jones said.
The bar will become part of a new as-yet-unnamed restaurant that will be coming to the space next door where Tilted Kilt shut down recently. Tilted Kilt owner Jamie Daniel is also a partner in KSBar and will take over operations of both spaces, Jones said.
Other business partners include Andrew Jefferson and Ryan Foster, Jones said.
Last year, KSBar closed down for the summer for a major revamp to the menu and a refresh of the space that was meant revive business, but the changes apparently weren’t enough to regenerate the business without a winning season from the University of Kentucky Wildcats to draw fans back out.
“The business model was break even the rest of year, make money on game days, but recently the profit days have been less,” Jones said. “Home games are fine, and when teams are good people come out when team’s on the road, and in post season. And when they’re not, they don’t. That’s huge.”
He said that the 2018-2019 seasons, when both the UK football and basketball teams had good years, “we could count on huge December and March and now it’s just not the same. That’s a massive impact in (the) last three to four years.”
The family-friendly bar and restaurant at 1030 South Broadway opened in the fall of 2018 as an off-shoot of the fan-oriented Kentucky Sports Radio, and aimed to become the go-to spot for UK sports fans.
It featured loads of TVs for watching sports of all sorts and UK memorabilia on the walls, as well as a covered patio with outdoor seating.
KSBar & Grille grew out of the hugely popular live KSR radio show and KentuckySportsRadio.com, a sports blog that Jones sold in 2020. The radio show hosted by Jones, Ryan Lemond, Drew Franklin and Shannon “The Dude” Grigsby, airs on WLAP in Lexington and WKRD in Louisville with syndication to other locations.
This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 10:24 AM.
