UPDATED: to include reaction and comments from Ansley Williams of Live Oak Restaurants.

The signs of changing times along Savannah’s waterfront have been coming rather quickly the last couple of years. Seemingly every bit of news along River Street these days is yet another announcement that a long-standing Savannah restaurant ‘landmark’ is moving on. Now it is happening again, and it might be the biggest headline to date.

Tubby’s Seafood River Street, part of Savannah’s Live Oak Restaurant Group, will be closing their doors at the end of December, ending a 25 year run on River Street. The news was confirmed by Ansley Williams, CEO of Live Oak Restaurants.

“It was a gut punch, Jesse.” Williams said of the realization that they’d have to give up the most popular restaurant in their group. He added that he’s known for some months that this was coming. The staff had known as well.

“We kinda knew this was an ongoing thing. That this might happen.” One employee said. “They let us know last Thursday.”

Mr. Williams shared the news with the staff himself.

Tubby’s had been unable to come to terms on a new lease agreement with their landlord, The River Street Inn.

“I thought we’d made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.” Williams said “but they have their own plans for the space.”

“He said they’d been trying since February.” (to get a new lease). the employee added.

Williams says the ownership group that bought The River Street Inn “about 5 or 6 years ago” is planning to put their own restaurant in the space.

The news was the same when Bernie’s Oyster Bar closed over the Summer citing a similar inability to secure a new lease. In the same building. Bernie’s moved their operation to Pooler. That move, however, was short-lived. The space struggled to catch-on and closed fairly quickly. The building in Pooler is now listed for sale.

Tubby’s Thunderbolt is not affected by this news. This is strictly a River Street location closure. That doesn’t mean it won’t be any less painful for a city that has been watching a series of long standing eateries on the waterfront close their doors.

Live Oak plans to hold an internal ‘job fair’ to attempt to accommodate any employees who would like to move to another one of their restaurants including Spanky’s, Dub’s Pub, Fiddler’s and of course Tubby’s Thunderbolt.

Nearly 3 years ago, Bayou Cafe was the first to go ending a 30 year run on River Street. As we mentioned, Bernie’s Oyster Bar closed last Summer. This past Fall, Joe’s Crab Shack-a national chain-quietly shut their doors and moved away.

Savannah has a lot of memories at Tubby’s River Street. The good news is, you’ve still got roughly a month to stop in and say good bye. Their planned last day will be December 31st.

# # #