Ashley’s Pub Closes

Such was the heading on an article appearing Thursday in my local rag The Gainesville Sun. Ashley’s Pub was a Mexican-style restaurant/bar that had been in business since 1981. The site, toward the south end of the original Butler Plaza off Archer Road in southwest Gainesville, had originally been Allen’s Gator House. There were two parts to the restaurant: as you entered, there was a relatively lit up dining room on the right where you could sit, eat, and read if you liked. And if you wanted more of a “bar” atmosphere, you could step over into the more spacious, dark room on the left, where there was television, a nice bar, jukebox, pool table, etc. I used to frequent this place (both when it was Gator House and Ashley's) often from 1979 to 1982, since I worked nearby.

After the Ashleys bought the place and transformed the menu to Mexican cuisine, they kept the same divided arrangement for a while, which suited me well (I liked to sit and study in the well-lit section). But in 1982, they redesigned the restaurant and made everything one big, dark room. I tried going there a few times, but the poor lighting finally made me choose other places to eat at instead. That was too bad, for I liked the Ashleys and their employees were great. And they had the best enchiladas, at a very affordable price!

I don’t quite get the “art” of feng shui, which seems to impart spiritual values to how rooms are arranged. But how a business, especially a restaurant or coffee shop, arranges its dining section, can be as crucial to its survival as the actual product it sells. A few months ago, a small coffee shop near my home opened for business. I checked it out, walking in there with my backpack containing books and my word processor. I bought a cup of their coffee and wheeled around to sit down, only to find that their “dining” area consisted of one small love seat and a couple of chairs without tables! I took my coffee to my car and never went back. And that business closed down after a few weeks.

Naturally, everyone has their own preferences regarding what constitutes a friendly dining area. Ashley’s Pub lasted for a good 27 years, so there apparently were quite a few happy customers over that span of time. And I can’t really be sure that the asinine seating arrangement of that fledgling coffee shop I once went to was what ultimately did it in. I can only speak from my own individual experience and preferences. But a good, common sense rule of thumb for a restaurant operator would be to give customers as much of a choice as practicable regarding their seating and lighting (which is one of the main reasons that I tend to dig Starbucks). That, I would have thought, should have been a “no-brainer”!