Austin City Saloon back open, celebrating one year in Corbin

When Austin City Saloon owner Josh Brock first opened his downtown Corbin location, chances are he probably didn’t envision the restaurant’s one-year anniversary looking the way it did this past weekend.

“Our one-year anniversary was June 12,” Brock explained. “And we celebrated with just being able to let people come in again to eat. It went well, though. It was a great weekend.”

Obviously, Austin City has been in the same boat as other restaurants across the country in recent weeks, unfortunately having to close their doors to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of June 12, however, what has become one of Corbin’s most popular hangouts is once again welcoming customers back inside. Brock couldn’t be happier about that fact.

“It is great to be back open,” Brock said. “It is fantastic to have people inside having meals again, and just to be able to see and talk to them again.”

Brock and his staff at Austin City remained very visible during the coronavirus lockdown, thanks in large part to staying active on social media. “I think that was the most important thing for us,” he explained. “We kept doing live videos on Facebook, and we kept posting updates to all of our different platforms. We were even able to keep live music events going thanks to live-streaming.”

“You’re shut down, but you have to stay relevant,” Brock said of the recent ordeal. “We thrive, just like every other restaurant, on people being able to come in and eat. We want every seat taken. We couldn’t do that, but staying active online helped us to at least maintain a little bit of business during all of this.”

Brock and his staff even took things a step further during the shutdown, offering to-go specials such as the popular “covid cocktails” poured into custom jars, and special face masks featuring the Austin City Saloon logo.

“Nobody here is taking this situation lightly,” Brock assured. “But if you get hit with something like this, you just have to adapt, and try to find a way to continue giving people something that will keep them wanting to come back.”

As for the one-year anniversary, Brock said, “The response from the local community over the past twelve months has been fantastic, and we love being able to give people a place to come downtown and see a tremendous amount of live musical acts. With the exception of the shutdown, our first year in Corbin has exceeded all expectations.”

Brock said plans are in place to have live music featured at Austin City Saloon each Friday and Saturday evening moving forward, and he is excited to announce the return of full bands on the Fourth of July weekend. Acts scheduled to appear include local favorites Eight Daze Sober and County Wide Band.

Certain restrictions remain in place for the time being, such as distancing guidelines and PPE requirements for all staff, but Brock says the extra precautionary measures are well worth it in order to finally have his doors open again. For more information, visit www.austincitycorbin.com.