Christina Aguilera, 50 Cent and OutKast are coming to the Flats East Bank this summer.
Well, at least their music.
Come July, Barflyy will join Good Night John Boy and Decades as the Flats’ third retro bar and dance club. Instead of mining the ’70s or ’80s, the bar will be playing early 2000s pop and dance hits. Movie and TV show posters will mix with Ohio college logos to wallpaper the former Inferno space.
That’s how Barflyy is setting itself apart from its neighbors, general manager Brittany Garner told Scene.
“The difference is that we’re bringing college life back to the Flats,” she said. “I really just think it’s the energy that brings more liveliness. It’s just more fun. It’s upbeat. It’s relaxed. It’s not so serious.”
Nostalgia vibes are now big for millennials and Gen Zers hunting experiences instead of generic bars or clubs.
The Flats East Bank has seen seismic change in recent memory. Inferno, Margaritaville, Punch Bowl Social and Beerhead all closed in the past year as the riverside entertainment neighborhood continues to evolve and rebound from a summer marred by a deadly shooting following a Browns home game last September. Meanwhile, a renovated Shooters and Lost on the River have debuted.
Barflyy’s ownership, which opened a location in downtown Kent in 2018, eyed the former Inferno location shortly after it went on the market last year. Long lines at Barflyy Kent’s spot signaled there was demand to expand, Garner said.
They’ve converted Inferno’s old VIP area into a raised dance floor, updated the cabanas outside, lathered the bar in college logos and put drinks on the menu that are more inflation-friendly than your average $16 cocktail.
“We plan on being a little cheaper than everyone else,” Garner said. “It’s going to be exactly what I think this area needs.”
Garner told Scene Barflyy could open up as early as the end of June or in early July, depending on how a health inspection goes this week.
On Monday, Garner and other workers were painting or prepping the cabana space. Next door, construction workers were renovating the patio of the former Rum Runners, which Barflyy also owns. Garner didn’t say what they have planned for that space.
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