Longtime Lawrence bar and grill The Yacht Club reopens under new ownership

For many years, parents of KU students were under the impression that their children were getting a fine education in all things nautical. After all, the credit card statement kept showing visits to The Yacht Club. Come to find out, The Yacht Club was a bar and grill. As we previously reported, it closed in June, but now there’s news the longtime establishment has reopened under new ownership.

A pair of radio personalities with K.C. country music station Q104 — Mike Kennedy and Whitey Whitney — have reopened The Yacht Club, 530 Wisconsin. The bar and grill reopened last weekend. Don’t let the new owners’ country music background fool you into thinking The Yacht Club is soon going to become The Country Club. Neither a name change nor a format change is on tap.

“We would never change the name,” said Alex Adams, manager of the establishment. “There’s too much history with the name.”

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As for the music and feel of the place, the club is expected to focus on being laid-back, whether that involves country, rock or some other type of music playing from the jukebox.

“We just want to have an upbeat and good-time vibe,” Adams said. “We will always have music playing, we’ll always have games on, and we’ll have food too.”

The business is rolling out a new menu. It will have a heavy emphasis on bar food that can be delivered quickly. That includes appetizers like Yacht Knots, which are a pair of Bavarian pretzels with a craft beer cheese sauce and bistro mustard. Hamburgers with lots of topping options also are on the menu, as well as a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich called the Titanic Pork T.

The club definitely will keep its sports bar theme with about 15 televisions, pool table, shuffleboard, foosball, and the giant KU basketball scoreboard that hung on the wall for so long remains in place.

The new owners — Kennedy and Whitney — have some experience in the bar and restaurant business. The duo also owns JT’s Sports Bar and Grill in De Soto, Adams said.

Plans call for the business to open at 11 a.m. each day and serve a lunch menu. The kitchen will close at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., depending on the night. The bar will remain open until 11 p.m. or 2 a.m. depending on the day of the week.